Teenagers throwing temper tantrums
by Himawari Ash 07
Summary: Her family is breaking apart and now Alice also has to baby sit her childhood-rival's grumpy daughter. Could things get worse? Yes, by getting dragged into each other's family problems. Human AU, semi Nyotalia, past FACE, SpUk somewhere along the story, hints of other pairings
1. I know you don't like to own favours

**Prologue**

„Amelia!" The cry resounds through the old walls as Alice follows her daughter crumpling the letter in her hands. Shouting what she wants, the blonde teenager turns, glaring at her mother furiously. "What is this?!" Stretching her arm out, Alice demands answers. A hell lot of answers.

The blonde kid doesn't seem to care though. Snapping whether her mother forgot how to read, she declares she will move out. Alice's brows twitch angrily at the bitchy tone in her child's voice. She did NOT raise the girl to talk like that. "Pardon me?"

"Don't act as if you don't understand, old lady." The teenager turns with her hands on her hips. "I-am-moving-OUT." Amelia stretches every single word, easily ticking her parent off.

Allice snorts annoyed and decidedly folds her arms. "Don't you dare talk with me in that tone!" This is NOT happening. It just can't. "And no, you will not move out." She tries hard not to lose her temper in front of the kid glaring at her.

"What the heck you making such a fuss about!" Running her hand through her hair, the blonde shakes her head and curses how she shouldn't have come back here. But this comment doesn't sit well with her counterpart.

"Little Missy!" The Englishwoman hisses back at her child, asking her just who she thinks she is. "Now cut the crap and explain this stupid bullshit of a joke." Blocking the door, Alice angrily faces her daughter who doesn't look like she wants to settle this with words. No, this is war. The part of trying to talk about it is long past by now.

Amelia frowns and throws her bomber jacket over her shoulders; «accidentally» knocking a picture over which shows the mother-daughter pair some years ago. A relict from the time when they were still laughing side by side. But these days are gone. For a moment, both stare at the scattered glass.

"Didn't expect you'd even try to understand." Amelia mumbles before she angrily shoves her mother's arm away and leaves the living room, calling over her shoulder how she doesn't want to be stuck in this ragged house with her any longer.

"Bloody hell! You're still underage. You are but a snotty-nosed high school kid and…" Alice follows the kid throwing a tantrum, trying to get a hold of her.

"Fuck yeah I will!" The blonde slaps the hand away and storms into her room. "And I'm no freaking kid anymore!" Amelia snaps, snatching her packed bags and storms past her startled mother.

"Amelia!" Alice screams when the door gets slapped in her face. She reopens the door cursing under her breath. Running after her, she only manages to grasp a hint of the blonde head disappearing in a blue van before the car drives off, leaving a distraught Englishwoman standing on the pathway between her Victorian house with oriel windows and the white painted fence that needs a new layer of colour.

Her legs give in as Alice keeps her gaze glued to the street where her daughter disappeared. "Amelia. My little angel…" She stutters, still refusing to believe that the girl is growing up and wants her freedom.

xxx

Alice absent-mindedly stares out of the dirty window. She holds her cup of tea up to her lips only to realize it has gone cold. How long has she been standing there? The woman sighs as she sets the cup down in the sink and turns away from the kitchen window. It's not like anyone would open the old gate and come down the small pathway to her front door. –Especially not a sixteen years old girl with a messy blonde bob and the demanding temper of an undiscovered Hollywood star. Also known as her daughter.

Alice frowns. She didn't hear from Amelia for three days and is worried sick. No that the girl would care; nor would Alice herself ever admit it. Even less would she actually try and call her ex-husband to ask for support in her search.

"If that little git dares not go to school tomorrow, I will make sure to…" her angry muttering gets disturbed by a little knocking sound. Irritated by the noise, Alice tilts her head.

But then again, who would knock at a door nowadays? Assuming it must be her mother instincts going crazy she turns to prepare another tea, a warm one this time, when suddenly the doorbell rings.

Maybe her maternal instincts are really going crazy and make her hear someone knock on the door before they would even dare to ring… "Don't you know where the key is hidden?" Alice calls, wondering if Amelia would actually be sorry enough to show she feels guilty after their fight. Knowing how the teenager would normally just act as if nothing ever happened, the Englishwoman doubts her daughter did finally realize that acting the «I'm so amazing you can't stay angry at me»-thing doesn't work all the time. But maybe…

"Wouldn't it be weird if I knew?" Alice freezes, staring at the flat chest in front of her which could never belong to her heavily equipped daughter.

"You…" Slowly, her eyes wander upwards to meet his irritatingly green ones smiling at her apologetically. Alice knits her brows and immediately feels anger boiling up in her. "Whatever you want: No." She slams the door in his face to answer his unspoken question and immediately locks the door.

Then Alice rushes off to the kitchen cursing in a way she didn't curse for a long time. And here she was thinking that Amelia… Trying to calm her temper, Alice takes another try to boil some water, the annoying visage still present in her memory. Cursed Spaniard. Fucking Git! Taking a bad situation and making it worse. The only person able to manage to do so right after Francis and Amelia just HAS to be standing at her very doorstep. Bloody hell, can her day turn even worse now?

Jumping at the sudden sound of her phone ringing, Alice drops the kettle back in the sink and rushes to shut the screaming machine off. "Shut up you cursed…!"

Her hand freezes shortly before picking up and Alice tries to relax. With the most polite voice she can pull off after these unsettling events, she greets the person at the other end. "Good afternoon. Kirkland speaking. How can I help you?" For a split second, there is no answer.

"Don't hang up." All her fake politeness disappears immediately, dropping to the floor like a mask of stone falling off. The sunny voice lets venomous curses appear at the tip of her tongue, but before she can start ranting and slam the receiver back on the phone, Carriedo continues. "I'm so sorry Alice, but there really is no one else to ask…"

"Miss Kirkland." She hisses and his immediate reaction makes her consider listening to what he has to say. She can finish the call any time…

"Miss Kirkland… Sorry… So, the thing is…"

"Cut it short, Spaniard." Her cold voice demands more details and Alice can almost see him flinch at the other end.

"Well, you know…" The more Alice has to listen to his voice, the more annoyed she gets. Simply stating that she will hang up now, the Englishwoman grabs her kettle once more.

When the Spaniard finally whines that's about Lovina and not even about him, Alice grumps but lets him continue. "I'm so sorry. I have to work overtime tomorrow. And there REALLY is no one that could look after her…"

"So you thought you just ask your best friend's ex-wife?" Alice would love to strangle him with her cold voice, telling him to ask someone else.

"Al… Miss Kirkland wait! I DID ask! I asked Emma and Tim, but they're out on a long weekend. Roderich is giving a concert and Elizaveta is in charge of hosting. –Plus they already have to take care of Feli. My brother is on a long-term holiday. I even went ahead and asked Francis and Gil, but they're both busy as well… Though I wouldn't want to entrust them with taking care of Lovi…"

Alice frowns when he finally stops listing names, dropping in how he should know that both of them actually DO have some degree of knowledge about raising kids. "Well, Yeah…" The Spaniard stutters, then suddenly gets irritatingly passionate about how this is HIS Lovina we're talking about. His little _carina_! And how he couldn't allow either of them lay their hands on his baby in his absence. _"¡Nunca jamás!_ "

Letting out a heavy sight, Alice doubts the moody teenager would be happy to be called his «Baby» and tries to find another excuse when she suddenly remembers another unpleasant problem. "So you called… Francis…?" Anxiously playing with a strain of hair, she tries to inquire when he did so without sounding to concerned.

"Ah, _sì_. Just before I came here, why?"

"Well… He didn't say anything…" Alice swallows her pride for the sake of her motherly love. (Though she would never call it that… Sound's so cheesy. But she would suppose she DOES feels some.) "About… the kids?"

" _¿Que?_ " Carriedo sounds irritated. "No, why?"

She quietly breathes out the breath she didn't realize she was holding and makes sure to change topics, stating that it's nothing to worry about. "So what was it about your daughter again?"

And immediately he starts blabbering about his beloved Lovina and how annoyed she will be that he has to work overtime. "Alice, are you listening?"

Taking the opportunity of him FINALLY being quiet for a few seconds, she shuts him off sharply. "Well, I see no reason as to why I should help you out. You didn't ever help me out either and I'm fine with keeping it that way. So, no and bye." Alice just settles at the simplest way to get out of it.

"Alice…" The ever-so-happy sound in his voice drops and the Spaniard clears his throat. Shivers run down her spine as his tone of voice changes to one that many people would deny a happy-go-lucky person like him could ever pull off. But Alice knows he can and immediately sees the sharp green eyes glinting coldly when he changes tactics. "Do you remember that one time in primary when you doodled a weird magic mark at the blackboard?"

Alice frowns and tries to put her words together even more carefully than she always does anyways. Of course she remembers the day she swore to herself to never publicly try out magic again. –At least not out in the complete open where many people can easily see it… "No." She pauses. "Many things happened in primary school."

"Miss Kirkland…" For a split moment he almost sounds concerned. But a very short moment. Then his voice changes again, making clear that he knows she does indeed remember.

"Why would I? And what is it of any help to you?" Alice also switches to offensive mode. If he insists, then she won't hold back either. Her voice freezes. He always called it ridiculous. And she doesn't see a reason as to why he should bring some old stories like these up.

"I never called it ridiculous." Alice huffs in disagreement. Then he insists how it is important, almost perfectly narrating the part of how the teacher asked who drew it. –And who it was that stood up at the end.

Alice can feel his gaze slowly piercing through the walls and to her, making her feel more and more unpleasant. She knows one shouldn't mess with the Spaniard. BUT that doesn't mean she will let him have his way!

"The teacher knew it couldn't have been me and let it slide. So, in other words I DID actually help you out once." He changes back to happy-go-lucky mode at a creepily fast pace. Which Alice knows to never be a good sign. Because he thinks he's won.

"Carriedo." Alice's ice cold voice cuts through the air around her. "Are you trying to blackmail me?" She pauses but the man doesn't respond. On top of that, with something that happened decades ago. She never asked you to stand up.

For a little while again, Antonio doesn't answer. Then he simply states: "Well, Miss Kirkland" he especially emphasizes the name and title "I just know that you don't like to own anyone any favours." Alice hears a clicking sound and the line turns dead.

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. I'll only write this down once though. ;)**

 **If you've enjoyed this ff so far, could you please help me out? What kind of song would do for Alice's/ UK's favourite song?**

 **Thanks in advance :D**

 **xxx**

 **Currently edditing the chapters**


	2. T'wasn't me

Alice stands at the gate and watches the high schoolers leaving the ground chatting loudly. Oh how she longs for the quietness in her house, sitting at the back garden with a comfortable cup of Earl Grey.

But no. Instead of enjoying a nice afternoon, she's damned to be standing here staring at the girls wearing way to short skirts just like her Amelia.

Amelia. Yeah. Amelia, who didn't come home for the last three days. For three long days. It was only during the phone call of that fucking git that she could forget their fight. The phone call that made her come here.

Though she had anyways planned to come and look for her daughter, now she's waiting for her worst enemy's daughter instead. By all pixies and fairies! Alice is standing at the doorstep to her daughter's school but instead of trying to catch Amelia off guard, she's waiting to take the grumpiest girl she has ever met home with her and not her energetic daughter. Lovina Carriedo. She spots the marron haired girl with the pissed expression walking towards the gate not listening to the happily chatting look-alike walking next to her.

The teenager grumps at Alice and Feliciana eyes her curiously. "Ve? Isn't that Amelia's Mum?" Alice advices the brunette to follow her, ignoring the girl's confused stares.

"What the heck!" Lovina folds her arms and eyes her while not moving an inch. "You can't force me to come with you!"

Whatever. Scowling about how it's not like Alice's a stranger and they've never met before, she simply states how the annoying Spaniard asked her to babysit the girl. But as it looks like the teenager doesn't want to, Alice decides to leave. After all she fulfilled her part in coming to pick her up.

"Wait!" Alice gets slightly pulled back by a hand grabbing her blazer. "You don't intend to leave me here by myself, do you?!"

Alice only turns her head to blankly look back at the brunette. "Whichever you prefer." She requests that if the girl doesn't want to stay here, she'd better hurry up. "I don't like to wait." Then she continues walking back to her car.

xxx

"Ha! I knew it!" Amelia shouts triumphantly and points at the dirty window.

"You knew what?" Her brother shrugs and tilts his head, looking around the uncomfortable and dusty room, wondering why they are hiding in this unused classroom to begin with.

"Tse! Mum, that is! I knew she'd come looking for me!" Amelia turns around and swings the Minnie Mouse- binoculars through the air.

"And? She's here to give you a lift. Wouldn't you normally jump at the idea?" He really doesn't get where this is going. And what his sis is actually ranting about this time.

"Ha! Like I would!" Amelia puts her hands at her waist and balances her weight on one foot because she knows this pose is especially showing off her figure. –Though she should save it for other boys as it doesn't work on her own brother… But Matthew's used to his sister's attention-seeking behaviour.

But the following information is completely new to him: "I-moved-out!" She exclaims with a bright grin and Matthew shrieks in shock. "So there's no need for her to give me a lift!"

She … What?! Does dad know about it? Did Mum actually allow that?! Matthew doesn't know what to be more shocked about. Or if it's even that surprising to begin with.

"Mattie…" Amelia regards him with an «are you seriously serious?!» -face. Then she tilts her head, declaring how she is not a kid anymore and can therefore decide on her own. "So I moved out." Amelia concludes and confirms her brother's guess that she didn't move out the traditional way.

"You can't just «move out»! You're sixteen! Which makes you legally underage!" Amelia shrugs her shoulders in disagreement. and makes a gesture as if shooing a fly away.

"So what? I can drive a car." And so she concludes there's no convincing reason as to why she should still sit in this old crappy house with the old hag.

"Amelia…" Matthew is convinced that his sister must have completely lost it and watches her for a while stalking her own Mum through binoculars with Minnie Mouse-Ears and a red polka-dotted bowtie. Yes, she's gone nuts.

For some time, both sit quietly. But the peace doesn't last long as Amelia gets bored of staring and hands the toy to her brother. "Man! I'm starving! I hope she leaves soon, so I can go get some hotdogs!" Matthew feels a tap at his back. "Hey, Mattie… You don't happen to have some snacks with you?" The boy sighs and points at his bag, wishing he had left the maple-cookies back home.

Matthew's discovery of their mother talking with someone saves his cookies though he doesn't get a chance to see with whom. "Gimme that!" The teenage girl leans over to forcefully take the binoculars back and Matthew loses his balance. "Kya! What are you doing! I almost fell!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Where…?!" Amelia finally manages to struggle free and get the binoculars back to peek out of the window. "Found her! What the…" She jumps up. "WHO the…? Is there someone in the car with her?" Grabbing the binoculars being pushed back at him, Matthew answers with a quiet voice how he doesn't know and tries to recognize something through the spying tool when he hears his sister rush out of the room complaining loudly and sighs. He should just have gone home to dad.

xxx

"So this's your home?" Lovina eyes the building with a raised eyebrow.

"If you don't like it, you are very welcome to stay outside." Alice, highly annoyed by the first words she hears the girl speak holds on to her decision to go with the way that would give her the least trouble.

Through the corner of her eyes, she sees the teenager following her hesitantly. At least the grumpy girl seems to have decided to come inside. Requiring whether she has any homework, Alice drops the key in the porcelain bowl where she keeps all these little things that go lost easily. (Though somehow she is still never able to find whatever she needs…)

"Huh?!" Judging by the answer, the girl most certainly does. Just when she wants to remind the teenager about how people don't gain knowledge without working for it, a sudden crash and scattering sound interrupts her.

Turning around irritated, Alice finds Lovina standing in front of a broken mess of a porcelain cup and keys and other little things shattered over the floor. The teenager stares down in horror, her hands frozen in place as if she was still holding the bowl. Then she realises Alice's irritated look and immediately crosses her arms in front of her chest and looks away with an obvious «T'wasn't my fault»-look on her face.

Alice blinks and has to remind herself that something like this can happen to anyone. She also ignores the question as to what the girl had intended to do with her organisation-tool to begin with. After all, who just goes round taking random things in strangers' houses to take a closer look at them?

"Did you cut yourself?" The girl almost jumps, then glares at her with a look that makes it hard for Alice to tell whether Lovina is scared of being scolded or irritated by the Englishwoman being worried about her.

"T'is not my fault that this thing was standing so close to the edge of the drawers." Lovina huffs and stomps through the hallway. Then she seems to remember being in a stranger's home and turns around to eye Alice suspiciously.

"The living room is over there." Alice points towards the door and murmurs a "Make yourself at home." While staring at the shards. Great.

Then again, it's not like it was her favourite cup and she could always replace it with another one. Just need to get this cleaned up quickly… Another clangouring sound echoes through the walls and Alice darts towards the living room. She hears the girl curse in… Some Latin language, staring at another piece of broken porcelain.

Spinning around when she realises the Englishwoman standing in the door and trying to hide the shards under the couch with her foot. "What are you staring at?" She glares at Alice and slumps down on the couch. Alice on the other hand stares at the shards. THESE shards. The shards of a vase she got from…

Never mind. The woman decides that it is more important to put any other breakable things out of reaching-distance from the brown haired teenager as soon as possible than to cry after the broken vase.

Especially as having been able to keep them in one piece over all these past years with Amelia around was a very miracle in itself. Alice wouldn't dare put them at any risk of being broken by having the impersonation of bad Mediterranean temperament staying at her place for a few hours.

Therefore the Englishwoman looks around the room and frowns. She owns way to many porcelain things. –One more reason to add to the list as to why she will refuse any other begging from the Spaniard to babysit his daughter.

–AND begin the list with the favours THAT GIT earns HER!

xxx

Lovina is bored. HORRIBLY bored! She looks around the room the something-thousandth time. The blonde woman didn't speak a word with her since she rushed through the room several times, carrying any of the creepy white and blue; and sometimes differently-coloured pots away to who knows where. Lovina doesn't care where to though. T'wasn't her damn fault that these things were just standing where they could so easily be knocked over.

"What the hell is taking you so long, stupid bastard?" She grumbles as a weird smell creeps towards her nose. The teenager immediately straightens up. What the hell?! She turns her head but doesn't spot anything through the door but the empty hallway looking all tidy like nothing ever broke, finding an old-fashioned teacup sitting on the scattered small bowl's spot.

Lovina frowns and decides that, besides it not being her fault that the bowl broke, it couldn't have been much of a loss seeing the cup already replaced with another one. A sizzling sound catches Lovina's attention once more and she growls. Looks like she really needs to get up from her comfortable sitting space in order to figure out what is poisoning the air she is breathing with the smell of burned food.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm cooking dinner." The lady turns with a soft smile and Lovina stares at her in disbelief.

"Dinner? What time is it?"

"Five forty-two." Shrugging her shoulders, the blonde woman continues stirring… something looking pretty alien in a pan. Lovina stares at the charcoal, then at the lady, then her gaze wanders to the watch the English lady just looked at some seconds before and tries to figure out in what sort of parallel universe she ended up. Dinner at six?! She looks around the kitchen.

"And where's the dinner?"

"Pardon me?" The woman looks confused, then points at the unidentified things sitting on the stove in front of her. "I'm just about to finish cooking. Give me ten minutes."

" _Que?!_ " Lovina shrieks in horror. «Lovi, I'll cook you a big lunch, so make sure to eat your fill before you go to Alice's house, ok?» she remembers the brown-haired bastard saying. And she DID eat a lot. But suddenly remembering how he also mentioned something like «Alice doesn't know the foods you like… Or anyone likes… Never mind. Anyways, just make sure to eat a lot, as I won't be able to cook dinner for you.»

Lovina didn't really pay attention to that part, as she was too occupied with the thought of filling her stomach with her favourite tomato salad. However, now realising that the warning was actually more of a threat, it pops up in her memory again. Horrified, the teenager watches the woman taking some plates out of a cupboard. "You really intend to eat that?"

"Excuse me, if I may." The blonde frowns. "This traditional English recipe was handed down to me by my mother."

"My condolences." Lovina wonders how this person managed to survive her childhood and decides that opening the fridge and looking for some tomatoes would be mere self-defence. "No tomatoes…" Grumbling, she looks at some of the packages and vegetables she finds. Does she have olive oil? And Mozzarella? Holding a bunch of vegetables and ham she discovered which make for perfect pizza-toppings, Lovina feels a lot better. But only until she locks eyes with the angry-looking blonde.

"Care to explain what you are doing? –And no, I don't have any Mozzarella." Lovina sighs and explains:

"Cooking. –Edible food."

 **xxx**

 **And there goes Chapter 1 :D**

 **If you have any suggestions for Alice's /nyo!UK's favourite song, I'd be happy if you share them :D**


	3. My condolences

Alice sighs once more and watches the teenager that just took over her kitchen. Her eyebrows twitch as she wonders if it was a god idea to have a young girl taking her cooking tools hostage. Then again, Alice remembers how An… Mr. Carriedo used to bring Jalapenos and other snacks and dishes to the get-togethers of the three idiots all the time. And Alice has to admit that they were always quite tasty. If Lovina did actually learn anything from her father, she might actually be a good cook.

Alice folds her arms in front of her breast as her mind wanders off, imaging Mr. Carriedo standing in a kitchen with a little, brown haired girl with dress and apron following him around. Somehow she could see it. His stupid, oblivious grin taking over the room and sparkling over his daughter's bad mood. The picture makes her snort quietly. What a couple. Pissed kid plus father that is just too happy with his grumpy kid's very presence to even realise the unpleasant vibes the girl is giving off.

"What are you laughing at?" Spoken-off girl whirls around with a furious glare on her face Alice didn't even know could exist.

"Nothing." She tries to think of an excuse to walk out of the room. "I need to water my plants…" That alone won't take a long time. She needs to come up with something else… "…and make a phone call." Alice turns towards the living room and grabs her ewer.

While watching the water flooding the brown dirt and seeping away, Alice's thoughts return from her irritation about the brown haired teenager to another, blonde haired teenager and she sighs. Maybe she should really make a phone call. Setting the watering can down, Alice tries to remember all the names of friends Amelia mentioned to her before. As there's way too many of them anyways, Alice tries to focus on the most frequent ones:

A brunette boy. Most likely a Slavic… –Alice doesn't know his landline. Thus she crosses that one from her mental list. A black-haired Asian –who is way too quiet and seems like the honest type. He would never let a sulking girl stay at his place without feeling guilty towards the minor's Mum. This one won't work either. So she continues to the next one.

But everyone she can remember, somehow she thinks it would be the wrong person to call. Then there is Francis. –No, Mister Carriedo didn't seem to have heard anything about Amelia staying at her father's place. Her son… -No, he wouldn't want to get dragged into the fight between Alice and Amelia. Plus he doesn't have a cell phone. So no chance with the family. Then there is this one Tony guy… Should she even consider him? (That is, if it's really a «him»; or even exists to begin with…) 

"I'll just call Kiku's uncle." –Or father. Or brother. Maybe cousin? The person at whose place Kiku is staying… just how should she refer to him? 

" _Ni hao_?" Now the high voice makes Alice wonder if it's even a male she is talking to…

"Good evening. This is Amelia's mother. Our… The kids we're taking care of go to the same school." She corrects herself, then continues inquiring whether she could speak with Kiku. 

"Good evening, Kirkland-san." The polite voice immediately puts Alice's mind at ease when he receives her call. Oh she really wonders how her daughter actually made friends with a kid like him. 

"Good evening, Kiku. How was your day?" 

"Thank you, Ma'am. I had a very nice day. How are you?" After exchanging formalities and a little bit of pleasant small talk, Alice finally asks about her daughter's whereabouts. The quietness that follows ascertains her that Kiku does indeed know where Amelia is. " _Gomenasai_. I am sorry, Kirkland-san. Yes, Amelia-san did indeed tell me where she lives. However, I promised her that I would keep my knowledge of her abode a secret." 

"I see." Alice sighs yet feels touched by the serious teenager's honesty. "Can you at least erase my worries? My daughter is not staying somewhere outside, or with bad company, or in a dangerous place? Or all of them? And is she eating properly? Did she come to school?" 

"You can be at ease, Kirkland-san." The Asian boy answers after listening to all her fears. And hearing all the other ones she didn't even put into words. "Your daughter is staying at a proper place and in acceptable company. She does also know about all the things daily life require. Be it pleasantries or duties." Alice releases a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"Ok. Thank you very much, Kiku." 

"I am glad if I could be of any assistance, Kirkland-san. Can I help you with anything else?" Alice almost feels as if to ask about how to keep an annoying Spaniard and his blackmailing out of her life, but bites her tongue. Instead, she wishes him a pleasant evening and finished the call. 

"Food is ready, bastard!" Alice frowns at the voice calling from the kitchen. Then she hears the teenager muttering slightly apologetically but mostly irritated: "I mean, _Signora_ …" 

"Coming." Once more, Alice thinks about the Latin language. Is it Spanish? Though she doesn't understand it, she somehow wonders if the annoying man actually speaks to his daughter in his mother tongue. –How would that sound?

xxx

Their meal is spent with little conversation on Alice's behalf, as she made the mistake in inquiring when Mr. Carriedo will come to fetch his daughter, and the girl immediately started ranting about her annoying idiot of a father and so on. The food however, was highly enjoyable and almost made her miss the dinners her ex-husband used to prepare for the family. But she kicked the thought out of her mind, knowing that she wouldn't want to spend more than three days a year in Francis' presence no matter how many delicious meals he would cook. 

"And then the Bastard actually invited his two drinking buddies over!" If her eyes could become even narrower, then this would be how Alice would try to explain the look on Lovina's face. Though this time the girl also looks pissed. Really pissed.

And as she continues to go on about the crap that happened that evening, Alice can relate to her feelings just all too well. "If it were only this annoying «Oh-so-high-and-mighty» Potato Bastard of a brother of a much worse Potato Bastard suddenly slamming the door open and shouting around how «he and his awesomeness» had just multiplied as he had adopted a chick…" Lovina keeps complaining and Alice grins. Oh how she knows that feeling… After all, these three idiots are idiots. And there's three of them. They made life hell for Alice since primary. And did the same to Lovina since she was born. Poor thing. No wonder she is pissed off! 

"Oh dear. What a bothersome event." Alice shows her sympathy. Though it's not her very idea of how to spend her evenings, she'd still rather be accompanied by a moody teenager than to chew over her fight with Amelia. 

"This Bastard! But the worst part of that evening was, I had just freed myself form that second Potato Bastard's grip and tried to cover my ears to block his loud voice out, when the Rose Bastard appeared! Argh!" She takes a gulp of water and slams the glass down in a manner that makes Alice wonder why the teenager didn't break it yet. "This ashole actually dared to grab my hand and his eyes were freaking creepy –not that I was scared or anything, just annoyed- and starting to explain things to me I didn't want to know."

Her eyes widen in horror when she recalls the event. "Then, finally, the French got smacked by that Bastard of an idiot calling himself my guardian. -That idiot of a father that just goes all happy-go-lucky, allowing these other two bastards to casually enter our house! THE house where I live in! That stupid German and creepy French in MY house! You can't imagine, how annoying these Bastards can be!" When Lovina takes a break to breathe in, just about to continue ranting, Alice grins knowingly. 

"Oh yes, I DO know… As you may know, I lived in the same house as the French, frog-eating creepy idiot of a git for ten years." Now, for a shocking long instance, the teenager grows quiet and just stares at the adult with a baffled expression. 

"My condolences." 

"Thank you. My condolences on living in the same house as the happy-go-lucky git for sixteen years." And with these words, the two women feel oddly close as companions in misfortune which, which neither of them could afterwards explain why, makes them start grinning at the same time.

After that awkward moment, they try to outdo each other with stories of the three Bastards/Gits being stupid, annoying and completely making the two women get furious. Being so engrossed in their stories that they lose track of time. Both feeling that somehow they have more in common than they would have guessed. –As long as Alice keeps her porcelain out of Lovina's reach and, in turn, lets the teenage girl take care of the cooking.

xxx

Antonio happily drives down the street with the row houses. What a nice day. Well, it wasn't nice having to work overtime again and being shouted at by his boss, but the thought of his cute Lovi clinging to him complaining how he made her wait too long, while slightly blushing, makes it worth it. He quietly hums and then his smile turns into a grin. Taking a pouting Lovina back home who will most likely be more accepting to his attempts to hug her tomorrow isn't even the best part about him needing someone to babysit Lovina.

He parks his car and gets out to walk over the greyish stone path that leads to the Victorian house of Alice Kirkland. The last time he came here he only got to catch a short glimpse of the irritated green eyes stare up at him. But today, knowing her pride all too well, Alice will actually have to appear at the front door and talk to him. 

"Wonder where she keeps that spare key she was talking about the other day…" He looks around while ringing the bell and waiting for a response. For a short while nothing happens. Nor does he spot any suspicious-looking stone or object the key could be hidden under. Then he hears stomping footsteps. 

"Bastard! How dare you make me wait for so long! Do you even know what time it is?!" Though complaining, the girl immediately rushes to his side and clings onto his arm, fishing for the car-keys in his pocket. 

"Awww, Roma. You're waking the neighbours." Antonio smiles at his little girl who grunts disapprovingly when she realises he'd put his keys elsewhere today. 

"Shut up and take me home! Plus, you said when you come get me late, you allow me to drive!" 

" _Sí_ , you can drive." He takes his time to dash a smile at her which makes her blush so very cutely. "But at least wait for a few minutes so I can talk to Al… Miss Kirkland." He opens his jacket pocket and takes out the object his daughter was searching for. "Did you have fun?" 

"Fun?! I was forced to stay at a damned stranger's house, Bastard!" Seeing the way she avoids his eyes with cheeks still reddish as she grabs the key, Antonio knows that the teenager actually experienced the evening as positive. Or at least acceptable. 

"Miss Kirkland is not a stranger, Roma. You've known her since you were little, _sí_?" Lovina ignores his comment and stomps towards the car. 

"I dare say it is rather irresponsible of you to let a minor drive, isn't it, Mister Carriedo?" The interrupting voice lets his gaze turn towards the frowning Englishwoman standing at the doorstep while watching Lovina happily entering the car. A small spark flashing in her eyes which, sadly, immediately darkens when they meet his eyes. Though the Spaniard doesn't really care. As long as he can stare at her eyes. 

"I learned when I was even younger." Antonio shrugs and smiles at the distant woman who seems rather displeased with his comment, and with the bad example he is setting. "How was the evening?" Now a sudden smirk appears on Alice's face. 

"Oh, we had the most wonderful time, I tell you! Ignoring the new ceramics I need to go buy..." 

" _¿Eh? ¡Lo siento!_ I'm sorry! Roma can be a bit clumsy… But she doesn't mean bad." And then Alice does something he didn't expect: She smiles. Chuckles even, as if to remember something funny. –And his hear skips a beat. 

"Is that so? I heard she is pretty good at throwing on purpose too…" 

"Oh…?" For a moment, his happy smile drops as he remember the many times his daughter aimed at him… Or one of his friends. 

"Especially when idiots got together acting silly. Oh we had a jolly good time chatting about funny stories about the times when you three idiots messed up." Antonio stares at the triumphant grin on the lady's face. He didn't see this expression in a long time and he misses it. Though hearing that HE and his friends once more where the cause of this expression sort of hurts. 

"I'm glad to hear you had a good time." He finally manages to say. 

"Oi Bastard! How long do you intend to make me waiting?!" An impatient honking makes the man spin around and pout a: 

"But Lovi, these tomatoes were for dinner! Didn't I tell you to eat your fill at lunch?" 

"But we already ate…" When Antonio turns towards the blonde again and tries to think of an excuse that didn't include Alice's home-cooking. "You knew she would stay for dinner. So why did Lovina need to eat her fill before coming over? Plus you already bought ingredients for a late dinner?" Her grin changes into a warning glance in these green eyes. 

"I'm sorry, you ate?" The Spaniard brushes the warning off with an unfazed smile. 

"Yes, and we enjoyed a delicious Italian dish." 

"Ah, so Roma did the cooking?" 

"And what if?" The dark glow in her eyes increases. Ups. He shouldn't have said that. But then again, knowing her full attention focused on him makes him smile happily. 

"OOOI!" Another attack of honking interrupts their locked eyes once more. 

" _Sí_ , Roma. I'm coming~" He calls, then looks at the stoic woman once more hoping that one day even her heart might be warmed up again if he just continues smiling at her. "Thank you very much, Alice. _¡Muchas gracias!_ Have a good night. 

"Have a good night." The slight blush on her cheeks doesn't escape him. He smiles once more, then he leaves, ignoring her complaining remark to call her «Miss Kirkland». 

"Took you long enough, Bastard! Now get in!" Lovina starts the engine and speeds off as soon as he closes the door. 

"But Lovi~" He gazes at the grumpy teenager munching on a tomato. "Don't eat while you drive." He gently grabs the opened pack of tomatoes out of her other hand to put it on a safe distance from his daughter. 

"Says the one that let me stay over at that Lady's place who isn't even able to cook… prepare salad! I doubt she could even manage to do something this easy right!" Though complaining, Antonio sees much more in his daughter's eyes than she would openly admit. 

"Aww, Lovina is so cute! You enjoyed Alice's company." 

"Hah?!" The teenager blushes and takes a turn with a bit too much speed which makes the wheel screech and Antonio worry about his car. 

"Hearing you call Alice a «Lady», you must be quite fond of her." He teases his baby-girl who immediately blushes. 

"No, I don't, Bastard!" 

"Aww, Lovi is as read as a _tomatito_." He fondly watches his pouting girl. Oh, when she's pouting, she is just cute. But Alice… Staring at him with a fierce glare; or the small blush hiding her freckles under the slight pink… is just too attractive to be allowed to be seen by other people!

 **xxx**

 **yays, finally Spain's POV ^^**

 **Hope u had as much fun reading it as I had writing :D And thanks for the likes, follows and comments! This is incredibly encouraging. :D**

 **Btw, I intend to update at least once a week; on the weekends. I know that's not very frequently, but with work an all the other things, I think it's a realistic goal. ^^'**


	4. What part of NO don't you understand?

Humming some of the songs from her youth, Alice stirs in the pot on her stove. It's been a long time since she last ate some beef-stew. Cooking for only one person is such a hassle. Then again, there is no one around who would complain about her food or claim that they didn't need dinner as they just went to MacDonald's with friends. And as it's the weekend too, Alice figured it was high time to treat herself to some good old stew.

As it's too much for her to eat in one go though, she will just have the rest of it sit in her fridge and eat it the next day. Trying to figure whether she should already start preparing the potatoes, Alice tilts her head and stares out of the window at the grey sky. What a perfect day for a hot stew! –A perfect day which is interrupted by the sudden cry of her phone. Alice frowns. Not again.

"Good afternoon. Kirkland speaking." She tries to sound as if the stupid gadget didn't just interrupt her peaceful moments. Alice immediately knows that it's not a salesperson she needs to get rid of as the other doesn't immediately start prattling at her about this new product she just has to buy or whether or not she should change her health insurance. Instead, the happy-beams of Carriedo's voice seem to find their way even through the phone as he greets her.

"Good Day Al… Miss Kirkland." Alice wishes it would be a call centre instead. Curse that damned git. He means a whole lot more trouble than ANY call centre.

"No."

"But Alice ~" The Spaniard whines. "I didn't even ask yet…"

"No need for you to. I will not." Alice states, all the displeasure she feels openly hearable in her voice. Given the fact that he can't see her annoyed expression she has no other means than to word it out. "I will not let a porcelain-breaking teenager interrupt my well-planed alone time. Have a good day."

" _Lo siento~_. I know, Roma can be a little clumsy, but she doesn't mean bad.~" He ignores her complaint and continues "And she wouldn't shut up about these old stories you told her from our childhood. She was so cute when she told me again and again that she wouldn't go to bed or come home at her curfew because I didn't do it either when I was a teenager. And she knew plenty of stories to support her theory."

The unfazed reaction makes Alice wonder if it really is possible that he can be this ignorant to miss all the venom she put in her refusal. But no. Antonio keeps chattering happily about his little «first star in the morning».

"What part of «No» don't you understand?" Highly annoyed, Alice cuts him off and finishes their call. She frowns. Then she can't help but grin at the thought of Lovina scolding her father who's hiding in a corner… So Lovina wouldn't shut up about the stories Alice shared with her? Yes, the girl would definitely be able to pull it off. With that airhead of a father…

Which brings her back to the call they just had some seconds ago and Alice inspects the phone waiting for it to ring again. –Nothing happens. Neither does her bell ring. No Antonio. After checking through the door spy, Alice returns to stir her stew and wonders about the oddity of how different parents and their children can be. Antonio and Lovina. Polar opposites. Same goes for her and Amelia. Not so much for Matthew though. But her «hero-appears»- daughter is the perfection of an attention-seeking top dog with ever present desire to be the leader and (weird combination, yeah, but she always tries to achieve it anyways) mood-maker.

"Francis liked to be in the centre of interest too though…" But Amelia is a different degree of a centre-person. – The Englishwoman stops for a second and wonders if Lovina's mother is similar to the teen. Could her childhood-rival actually be married to such a moody woman? –Or is he even married to Lovina's Mum? Alice's thought process is interrupted when the door rings. So Antonio DID decide to come after all?

Arguing with herself about whether to open the door or to wait until he leaves by himself, her hand automatically reaches out for the handle. However, her well-prepared speak to kick the Spaniard out of her lawn without disturbing her neighbours gets stuck in her throat when she is greeted with a grumpy:

"Don't tell me you're cooking."

"Good afternoon Lovina." Alice looks at the teenager and feels like the wind got taken out of her sails on one hand. On the other hand, she also feels the fire of anger burning in her stomach. This git dared to trick her! Alice continues to curse the Spaniard without asking Lovina neither to leave nor to come inside.

The brunette doesn't seem to care about the vibes the older woman is emitting and just pushes past Alice to make her way inside. Swallowing her anger, the Englishwoman decides that it's not the kid's fault that THAT Carriedo is her father and follows back inside where she sees neither hide nor hair of the southern European. "Don't tell me she…" Latin-sounding swearing reaches her from the kitchen and Alice rushes to save her stew.

"What the heck is this crap here?! Are you trying to poison me?!"

"Put. That. Pot. Down." Alice warns, feeling a sudden dark aura surrounding her like the one from her rebellious phase and she sees an intimidated glint appear in Lovina's eyes. The girl places the dinner down but then scowls:

"I don't care what you're mixing up in there anyways, idiot."

"Nice to know you feel like home…" Alice mutters to herself at the attitude of the teenager. Then she speaks up, trying to sound like a gentle mother-figure. The teen eyes her sceptically. "I know you don't trust in my cooking, Lovina. You just happen to be used to different cooking. -And your father seems to have made sure you never try my cooking- But I can assure you that it IS perfectly edible."

Alice takes the pot and brings it back to where it belongs. On her stove; save from the brown haired girl with Alice blocking the way. "This stew might not be similar to the things you eat back at home. But you should give it a try."

"You'd better be right, _Signora_." Alice smiles contently at the concerned scowl and shoes Lovina out of the kitchen.

"I am. The stew just needs to sit like this for a little while longer. So be patient, dear. Do you want a hot chocolate?" Alice feels relieved after she made her point clear and starts relaxing. But the teen seems rather puzzled at her piece-offering:

"Hot chocolate?! You must be kidding me." She pouts and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

"No? Tea then?" The woman wonders about the kid not jumping at the thought of a hot chocolate. Well, apparently not all teenagers are like Amelia and Mattie.

" _Caffè_! Or doesn't that exist in this household?" Lovina inquires, throwing her hands in the air rather irritated as if wondering if Alice is a decent person, given that she just asked her if she wants to drink TEA.

"Of course, dear." Alice smiles and feels the brunette relax. Realising that Alice actually knows about the existence of coffee seems to calm her down. "Good. Go ahead and settle down in the living room. I'll bring you your coffee. Why don't you start with your homework?"

"You'd better hurry." Lovina trots out of the kitchen, dragging her schoolbag as if to especially show off her displeasure about the Englishwoman's last comment. When the girl is finally out of sight, Alice sighs. This could become quite a tiring evening. Or a fun one. It's hard to say.

xxx

Lovina enters the living room, careful not to break anything again. After sitting down, the girl looks around. Apparently the Englishwoman took her last action of saving her porcelain (Of which she really possessed a creepy amount) as a reason to re-decorate her living room.

It doesn't look anything like the Carriedo's place at all with the old white-painted furniture that seem to be quite old as the colour starts to wear off at the edges. The pieces are the same ones she saw last time; only not standing at the same places like before.

And there's something else which irritates Lovina. At first she doesn't know what it is, after examining the antiques in front of her once more, she finally realises the difference. The doorknobs. –Lovina is positive they were blue the last time she came here. But now they are light-pink. Some with geometrical, some with flowery patterns. The rest of the room also seems to be flower themed. Small accessories placed here and there make the room look cute and girly contrasting the raindrops gently knocking on the windows.

"Here's your coffee." Lovina jumps slightly at the sudden voice coming from the door. –Not that she was startled. Not at all. Miss… Kirkland, was it?... places a tray with two cute cups, a small pitcher with milk and a sugar bowl at the low table in front of the couch. "Any milk or sugar?"

"Black is fine." Lovina concentrates as she carefully takes the cup away from the saucer –and knocks the pitcher over, splashing milk all over the tray. Lovina curses a thousand curses while the woman just shrugs her shoulders and saves her own cup with steaming tea. She takes it from the tray and places it at the far-end of the low table and disappears out of the room with the tray.

Lovina wishes she could shrink into the couch and slowly takes a sip from her coffee. Astonished, she realises that it has the perfect temperature to drink. It also tastes different from the coffee she uses to drink. But still good; not that she would admit it though.

When the woman returns, she just quietly picks up her cup of tea and sits down on an armchair next to the couch. For a long time the two just sip their drinks while watching the raindrops rolling down the window glass. From the corner of her eyes Lovina watches the Signora who inhales the smell of her tea with a relaxed expression.

Alice Kirkland… Even while sitting, the teenager is amazed by the straight posture of the woman. She has an air of refinement around her; elegance showing in her every movement from head to toe. Even her little pinkie stretched when slowly holding her cup to her mouth.

Then Lovina remembers the cold voice as she clearly ordered the teen to put the food down and shivers. «She might look like a lady, but is like a sleeping wolf. Don't underestimate her. Under the perfect façade she hides the heart of a pirate who wouldn't waver to spit the worst curses at you without batting an eye! Saying words and threats you couldn't imagine.»

The warning glint in Miss Kirkland's eyes back then in the kitchen made her remember what her bastard-father's friend once told her. So she obeyed - Not that she was intimidated by the Englishwoman or anything. She just felt like putting the pot down. Lovina frowns at the memory. Speaking of which. Didn't the woman say that she was once married to the rose-bastard?! And Amelia their daughter?! What a mismatch…

"Do you want to ask something?" Once more, the girl winces.

"Erm… You…" No, she wasn't just caught off guard… "Aren't you supposed to be Amelia's Mum who she lives with?" She finally inquires. Her own question makes her realise just how unlikely it seems for the hyperactive, noisy girl to live in such a household.

"I am." A shadow seems to darken Alice's eyes. Then she adds tonelessly: "Amelia decided to move out." For a moment they remain quiet. Then Lovina just can't hold the comment back:

"It's hard to believe that git… girl… is your daughter. You're way too different." To her surprise, the blonde snorts.

"Same goes for you and your father though."

"True." Lovina shakes her head at the irritating thought of her being in any way similar to her airheaded idiot of a father.

"So, are you more similar to your mother?" The brunette looks up and frowns.

"I don't know my Mum."

"I see." Is the only understanding comment before silence falls upon them again. At first, Lovina's thoughts run around wondering whether she is actually similar to her Mum or not. Then the relaxing atmosphere in the room overcomes her and her worries fade away as she just enjoys her coffee in the quiet company of the Englishwoman. Taking in the smell of wood and vanilla candles and the gentle sound of the rain outside.

xxx

Alice places her tea down and wonders when the stew will be done. She can't help but supress a smile. The rebellious teen did actually cool down as soon as she got her coffee. Though the Englishwoman realised the glances Lovina was stealing at her as if to figure out what was going on, with time she actually gave in to the comfortable silence.

Last time they had great fun gossiping about the bad trio; this time they enjoyed not speaking at all. Though only one teacup ago, Alice thought this evening could be troublesome, she realised once more that the two of them unexpectedly have more in common than she would have thought. She is about to get up to check on her dinner when a sudden electronic sound of someone wildly attacking drums almost makes Lovina jump of the couch. When the bas and guitar join in too; and later the singer, Alice smiles and states calmly:

"Oh, that's my alarm. The stew is almost ready."

"You… Listen to THAT kind of music?!" Lovina's jaw drops in horror. –The teenager didn't expect this, did she… However, Alice would bet that there are many things the kid still doesn't know about the past that connects Alice to the girl's father and his friends…

 **xxx**

 **And yes, I really think British food isn't half as bad as people say it is. (And I'm not British!) Which is why I just HAD Alice to insist on them both eating her cooking ;) But the prejudice is also kind of justified. The food is different from other things you would eat in Europe. Food is often seasoned after cooking. And it's not haute cuisine but just hearty meals most of the time. :'D**

 **Aaand last chance to help me out. –Any requests for Alice's favourite song? (I don't know any songs that fit the image in my head and didn't find any so far either)**


	5. I know that song…

"You… Listen to THAT kind of music?!" And points towards the kitchen where the music comes from, displaying a certain cover of a certain metal song. Alice smirks and decides to add a bit more to the shock of the teen: 

"Oh yes, I do. Why do you ask?" She inquires; knowing what the answer will be. –But if Carriedo tricks her into baby-sitting his daughter, Alice will make sure that the girl will have a lot of knowledge about her father's past he wishes she wouldn't. Like the last time when he came to get Lovina and his smile faded upon mentioning what the two women were talking about during dinner. Revenge! 

"That's… That's the stupid kind of music the annoying older Potato Bastard listens to!" 

"Potato Bastard?" Alice tilts her head as if she forgot Lovina using the weird nickname for Gilbert before. 

"Albino Creep, Five Meter Idiot, Oh-I'm-so-awesome Jerk…" The teen keeps ranting and the adult nods knowingly while she has to supresses a smile. This conversation is leading exactly where she thought it would… Lovina might have a hot temperament, but she is almost as much of an airhead as her father… And easily manipulated. 

"Well, I suppose you know that Gilbert and his crew once formed a band too?" She waits for Lovina to realise the meaning of her words, then ads: "With me as the lead singer." Now she can literally see how Little Carriedo's brain explodes in confusion and shock. Alice on the other hand –as if nothing happened- elegantly rises to go take a look at her stew. As she walks to the kitchen, she can hear the girl rant in confusion before she rushes to the kitchen too, bombarding the Englishwoman with questions. –Most of which Alice doesn't understand due to language barrier. 

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Lovina exclaims to sum her irritation about the noisy type of music up. 

"Well. That was quite the challenge I must say. As I didn't get along with any of the three back then. But I just loved singing and they happened to form a band. Antonio… Mister Carriedo played the guitar, Bonnefoy the bass. Gilbert was, of course, the drummer; plus occasionally playing the guitar too. And I sang." Lovina blinks in surprise as she seems to recognize the Englishwoman's voice and points towards the gadget with an asking look.

"Don't fucking tell me this is…"

"This? Oh, yes. It's our own cover though. The original sounds different. We made a shorter version and even though the amazing part is supposed to start with a guitar solo, Gil insisted in him taking over." She states with a smile and wouldn't even think of shutting her alarm clock off. Instead, Alice joins in with the vocals:

"Time and Space

All alone

It can be a lonely place

There it goes

Opening up

I can't stand

I can't breathe

Rolled fin out

Oil stripped

Hold is filled©" 

"I can't believe…" To her surprise, the teen stops ranting when the refrain starts and quietly backs away to sit down at the kitchen table. Her eyes glued to the singer, she waits for the song to finish. "I know that song…" The teenager Mumbles frowning, her eyes still fixed at Alice who finally closes the application on her phone and takes the pot from the fire. 

"Do you mind?" As if she didn't just happily sing along with her younger self screaming her lungs out, Alice points at the plates she prepared and Lovina places them at the two ends of the table, making some space for the pot. "Now then, enjoy your meal." She invites the teen to help herself to some of the stew which she eyes with suspicion. Alice on the other hand can't wait to take some. It didn't burn. She didn't add to much water either. And when she tried it, it was perfectly seasoned. 

"Buon appetito…" Lovina grumbles. Still obviously confused but happy for the change of topics, Lovina eyes her suspiciously. She stops the spoon in front of her mouth; refusing to try before confirming… whatever: "Did you forget the salt?" Alice sighs. 

"Did your father tell you that or was it Bonnefoy?" She scrapes some stew into her own plate and takes a bite. "I must disagree with the ever-so-present rumour about the British not being able to cook. Though I can agree that there is some hint of truth in that. Firstly." She takes another spoon before continuing, ignoring Lovina's stare who still doesn't trust her words enough to try. "In restaurants in the UK, most foods are served without seasonings, so that the guest can add salt and pepper to their own liking."

Lovina finally tastes a bit of the stew. "Secondly, the British islands have some dishes; rather, many dishes which are uncommon and not as famous as pasta or pizza. People just don't know it." She shrugs at the memory of all the times people would reject English meals because they didn't know them. "English food isn't high-class either. It's just simple, hearty plain fare." Finally, the teen takes e a proper spoonful of food in her mouth. 

"Its… edible." Lovina grumps and Alice smiles. That's enough for her. Seeing that the girl normally doesn't go around giving compliments, this seems like quite the positive feedback. 

"Glad to hear that." Alice expects them to continue their meal quietly, but then Lovina seems to spot something that catches her interest. 

"You have a garden?" She points at the stock of newspapers sitting on a small shelf next to the door. 

"Yes. Just a small one though." She smiles and realises a small spark in the teenager's eyes. "Would you like to see it?" 

"Yes!" Lovina almost jumps out of her chair but then realises that they are still eating. Blushing and grumbling something, she sits back again. 

"I think the rain will stop soon. We'll be able to go outside by then." Alice ignores the small mishap. 

"Do you have tomatoes?" Lovina's voice rises in excitement. 

"I grow different herbs out there. Lately, I started planting potatoes. And in summer I have strawberries." 

"So no tomatoes…" Now her sudden rush of excitement dies down and changes into disappointment. Still surprised by the unusual outburst of openly-shown emotions, Alice tries to revive Lovina's spirits: 

"Well… I never tried growing them. Isn't it difficult?" And if Alice would have planned to start a conversation, then that would have been the perfect way to do it. Amazed by the sudden endless stream of words and explanations coming out of the teenager's mouth, Alice ignores the fact that she wanted to have a quiet evening tonight. She might as well listen about the perfect way to grow tomatoes.

"Looks like the rain stopped." Lovina finally distracts herself from her tomatoes. Though Alice has to admit that, the longer she listens to the teen, the more she realised how well-informed Lovina is about gardening.

"Then let's head outside." After hearing so much about tomatoes, Alice is curious about what Lovina will say about her salad plantation and the different vegetables she is growing. Then there's also this new watering system she was dying to show to someone who would actually care.

Without realising it, now it's Alice's turn to speak nonstop. But the teenager doesn't seem to mind as she looks at everything closely and throws in some questions every now and then. The two stay outside until the sky turns orange and red. It's the second time they (almost) lose track of time. And when the sky's colours start fading away into a dark blue, they decide to head back inside for pudding, chatting like they've known each other for ages.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 _ **Sorry, I replaced the previous c5 as I now got a song. Plus I split it in 2 chapters as it was really long.**_

 **And here's the chapter with the song. :D Thanks for the requests ^^ Nice ideas and I liked all of them! Thanks to Bee's hint, I managed to find the one I used now:**

 **«Hearts Alive» by Mastodon (lyrics and all rights belong to the artist; not to me!)**

– **But because it's so long and I wanted the intro make Lovi jump off the couch, I made it be a** _ **btt**_ **-cover instead ^^ (And I don't really know if it would be Alice's favourite song; but most certainly one of the songs she listens to the most.)  
Sorry to all Mastodon fans for me just going and shortening the intro. –I LOVE the intro :D **

**Plus, can you imagine Spain playing an unplugged guitar version of it? 3 Love the idea. If you don't, just search the song on youtube and you will stumble upon an amazing guitar cover.**

 **Isn't it fun? Sometimes you meet someone and it just works. You get along after a short time. It doesn't happen a lot, but it does. Roma/UK ^^ Soo cute**

 **And btw… Creepy thought that Lovina knows about Prussia and the five meters… Though I'm positive she doesn't get the meaning behind it. ;)**


	6. Call me Alice

**A/N**

 **I replaced the previous chapter as I found a song! And split it in two chapters. So this is the second half. If you've already red this far; just skim through it ;)**

 **It's not much of a difference; but enjoy!**

 **THANKS to Bee who helped me get an idea of what I was looking for ;)**

 **xxx**

" _Gelato, gelato!_ " Lovina hums as she scoops some of the ice cream _Signora_ Kirkland took out of the freezer into her bowl. Though the dinner she made wasn't half as bad as Lovina expected. But talking about gardening and having some gelato afterwards made her even forget she ever tried her cooking. "Not gonna leave any for you…" Lovina singsongs and takes another huge scoop but the Englishwoman only smiles. "What're you smiling for?" The teenager frowns irritated.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just amused about how easily you overtook my place and proclaimed it as yours…" Lovina grumps and looks at the pot in her hand. Did she? Well, wasn't it _Signora_ Kirkland who invited Lovina over in the first place? So it's her own fault. The teen, content with her reasoning, backs away from the pot of ice cream and starts munching some of the cold dessert while taking a closer look at the gardening-magazines.

"Hey. Can I borrow these?"

"Go ahead. But make sure to remember to return them." Miss Kirkland winks at her and takes some ice for herself.

"Yeah, yeah…" the brunette starts flipping through the magazine when something catches her eye. She curiously eyes the objects encircled with a pen. "Flower pots with the American flag? An alien figure? Do you really plan to place these things in your garden? What a shame." To her surprise, her classmate's Mum sighs.

"I intended to motivate Amelia to get in touch with nature again. Once I even tried letting her eat hamburgers with salad I grew myself, but she didn't want to listen to the idea and especially brought some snails back home to place in my garden. It was a stupid prank for her, but I had a hella' problem getting these pests out of my garden again."

" _Che scocciatura_! We had that once too. They ruined all our tomatoes." Lovina still feels the disappointment from the moment when she discovered their harvest was ruined. "And that Bastard just went to the supermarket and bought tomatoes trying to cheer me up. _Idiota_! As if they would taste half as good as the ones we grew." She continues pouting and flips through the pages. Something else is encircled. "And what's with this polar-bear flowerpot and the… -which country's flag is that again on the watering can?"

Now the woman frowns and moves over to Lovina's place to take a look at what the girl is talking about. At first, Lovina thinks that she doesn't recognize the products but then she suddenly remembers:

"Oh, right. I just thought of Mattie when I saw these."

"Mattie?" The teenager wonders who that could be. Does the Englishwoman have a lover or something?

"Matthew." The blonde explains and Lovina shakes her head. Nope. No clue who she is talking about. "Matthew, as in Matthew, a freshman in your school." Lovina has to think for a while about who the Englishwoman means. But it still doesn't ring a bell. The Englishwoman sighs and shrugs her shoulders. "Matthew as in: the hockey-guy who loves pancakes with maple syrup?"

"Ah." Slowly, Lovina has a hint of an idea who they are talking about. Tall, wavy blonde hair. Easily overlooked… "And why would you buy a flowerpot for him?" At the small statement that she would because he is her son, Lovina blinks irritated. Son? Matthew?! "Wait… He's your son as in: he's Amelia's bother?"

"As in, yes. And as in: he's Francis Bonnefoy's son."

"Oh." Is all Lovina can say at that. Then she remembers how Miss Kirkland often mentioned his name when they were sharing stories about the three Bastards… "Now that you say it. He was also there in the past when we kids were actually allowed to attend one of the three Bastard's gatherings…" –Which, in Lovina's opinion, resulted in them being a gathering of five bastards. Because of the additional younger Potato Bastard and the Hotdog She-Bastard. Was the quiet blonde always there as well?

"Oh dear. I hated them. I didn't mind Francis and his friends meet up. But they should just leave the kids be."

"Yeah… I always thought the same." They grow silent, both following their own thoughts.

"I would have preferred to just hear the stories afterwards and make fun of them." The Signora grins mischievously and Lovina looks up with a reflecting grin.

"Oh yes!" She chuckles evilly. "I had so much fun reminding my brainless father of the stupid things he did all week long. –Whenever something happened, I knew a story to use against him!" Once more, the triumphant feeling rises in her and Lovina lifts her head proudly.

Just to feel her mood drop again: "But whenever I know the perfect story to make him feel embarrassed or whatever; or I think I finally found something I can use to shut him up… That Bastard just goes like «Ah, _sí_ , we did something like that. That was fun.»" Lovina frowns at how much he can annoy her. "And whenever I would complain about that, he'd try to avoid the topic and go on about how cute I am…!"

xxx

"He's the very personification of a Spanish airhead…" The Englishwoman shakes her head. "Seriously. I know Carriedo since primary. Honestly speaking, meeting you now really makes me wonder what your mother was like…" It must be/ must have been quite a stunning woman in Carriedo's eyes, seeing how the Spaniard showers her child with love.

"Huh?" The teenager looks at her with a puzzled expression; confused by her rant about the « _idiota»_ being interrupted like that. "Don't know." Alice frowns upon the fact that Lovina doesn't even know her other parent. Carriedo never mentioned anything; nor was he ever accompanied by a woman whenever he came over to Alice's and Francis' place. But she didn't really want to inquire about his second half. But what about Lovina?

"Don't you… kind of want to know?" Now Lovina tilts her head and Alice wonders if she is really considering it. Then the teenager shakes her head angrily.

"If she dared run away and leave the Tomato-Bastard to become a single parent or something like this, I'd rather not know." Amazed by the fact that the brunette did seriously think about it, Alice smiles. Lovina really loves her father way more than she would ever admit.

"Well, you have a point there…" Alice frowns. She wonders why, but she just continues to tell the brunette about the trouble she faced when she found herself in a similar situation: "Amelia was really displeased when she heard about me and Bonnefoy breaking up. She threw a huge fit and refused to speak with us for days, communicating her feelings with loud stomping and slamming doors. Matthew on the other hand just locked himself up for a week."

Lovina lowers her gaze to scratch the last bits of ice cream out of her bowl as if she couldn't dare look in Alice's eyes when speaking about a serious topic like this. However, realising there is no more ice left to find in the bowl, Lovina asks with a toneless voice:

"… Miss Kirkland…" The teenager seems to struggle with her choice of words, as if she is afraid of asking a question she shouldn't. But Alice feels like she could share some of her deeper thoughts with the teenager, so she decides to break the ice between them a bit more:

"Please, call me «Alice»."

"Alice…" The supporting request from the adult seems to help Lovina relax and put her troubles into words: "Why did you split up?" Alice shrugs her shoulders. But seeing the shadow in the teenager's eyes, she wants to answer the question as honest as she possibly could.

"It's hard to say why exactly. Francis and I… We weren't really compatible to start with. But you could also say that us being complete opposites, we complemented each other. However. As time went by, we changed. Or more like, what we expected of a relationship changed? I don't really know."

Alice sighs and turns to the stove to prepare some hot water. If they are really going to talk about this, she needs a cup of tea.

"Well. Francis was just being Francis and I was just being me. But even though we got used to fighting over time, I started wondering if this really was what I wanted: Our constant bickering. Whenever I got angry he tried to calm me down as quickly as possible, when I would have just needed some alone-time. The way he would still court me when I only wanted to be treated equally; and the way he would treat me like I was made of glass. I told him these things, but he continued to do things _his_ way. I continued to do them _my_ way… Both trying to force our ideas upon the other rather than understanding our partner's needs."

The blonde watches the water flow until the kettle is full. Then she turns it off and places the kettle on the stove. There are many things which started to bother her the longer she was with the blonde French. "And his constant flirting with whomever passed by…"

She turns the gas on and lights the blue flame, feeling an attentive stare in her back. Without looking at Lovina, she says: "Is it asking too much that your partner only looks at YOU?" Alice stares at the blue flames disappear under the silver metal kettle, mumbling thoughts she never dared put into words before: "Not at other women; and not at who he wants you to be. Only at you."

xxx

Antonio yawns and takes a sip of his coffee before he puts the cup on the car dashboard. The dark brown colour makes him remember his little girl and a wide smile appears on the Spaniard's face. Yes. Calling Alice the other week to take care of Lovina was a great idea.

The triumphant grin with which she greeted him when he took a seat next to her in the car last time confirmed it. A rare sight to see, but he always enjoyed it when Lovi thought she had some tricks up her sleeve to win against him. Though most of the time they were just cute attacks that wouldn't actually affect him. But yes, he loved to play along and «admit defeat»; knowing his little girl will be beaming with self-confidence for the next three days and reminding him of his loss for the next three years… No matter how much his friends laughed at him for being a silly «Daddy's girl»-kind of father, he would always do it again.

However, this time, the reason for Roma's grin actually shook him. Lovina and Alice seemed to have teamed up against him and put together the worst stories of his not-so-legal and neither boring teenage-days… Yes, he and his friends (mostly his friends) came up with so many funny things to do, pranks to play and ways to annoy people! It was great fun. Just living in the moment! But Antonio wouldn't have expected his daughter to be the one who makes sure he never forgets any of the folly from his youth days.

"Ah, _Eres un cielto_ , Roma!" Antonio hums to himself as he recalls the radiant brown eyes of his daughter. Hearing her go on and on about the mishaps the three men experienced as if she was there and had great fun watching them makes his ever-present grin widen even more. -But, somehow, this would always end in Roma stopping in the middle of her story and complain about what it was he was laughing about. "Ah, I don't get how women work…" Once more he stops the car in front of Alice's house.

He looks at the Victorian house with the oriel windows and the small, green yard. He wasn't surprised to find her moving to such a cute, white-painted building with flowerpots on the window sill when she got divorced. The house was a match. And he would love to see what it looks like inside. Did she still decorate her house all over with embroidery? Antonio would bet she is still the same cute, stoic Alice. The same strong, wilful Alice he fell in love with as a child.

Antonio takes a closer look at the flower pots and wonders if this is where she hides her keys. Then the flowers themselves catch his attention. Small, blue and pink blossoms which she must be taking grate care off. Cute, stubborn Alice who loves gardening and craftwork. Short tempered and stubbornly stoic Alice who throws curses that makes mothers close their kid's ears... If there was a way to describe her cute way of acting all distant and pissed while she is actually just trying to hide her embarrassment… He would like to know that word.

With a sad smile Antonio remembers all the opportunities he had to witness her during their school days. Acting all bitchy just to show some cute attitude whenever she thought people didn't see. But these days went over fast. She married Francis. Though they're divorced now, it's still a fact that she was married to his best friend. Antonio shakes the thoughts off.

"Lovi, I'm here to take you home." He rings the bell and sees shadows behind a window move. His cute daughter's face appears behind the glass and she waves him to come inside. Surprised by the invitation, Antonio tries to open the door. He blinks as he feels the doorknob move under his hand and the house opens up in front of him.

Hesitating a bit, he still enters and makes sure to close the door properly behind him. He finds the key stuck in the keyhole. Antonio frowns. Very uncharacteristic for Alice to forget locking her door. "It's not save to keep your door unlocked at this time of day." Antonio follows the light and enters the kitchen. «What a match» is his first thought when he sees the light coloured and old fashioned furniture. Then his gaze meets the green eyes of the house's owner flashing with irritation.

"Who said you could come inside?" For a split second, Antonio meets her gaze and stares back with a dark glint in his eyes. Then he brushes the accusation off with a dashing smile:

"Good evening, Miss Kirkland." And the irritated frown doesn't escape him. Cute! Antonio turns to look to his daughter who comfortably curled up on a seat opposite of Alice "Oh, I see. So you just made coffee…" No wonder Lovi would refuse to leave just yet. His little coffee-addict would even ignore him if it meant she got a cup.

"I will not invite you to have some. Nor to have a seat." Alice glares at him. "And I'm still waiting for an apology for tricking me." –Now Antonio wonders if the door was actually unlocked because Alice was strongly taken by surprise when Roma turned up on her doorstep uninvited and therefore forgot to lock the door again. "Now it's YOU who owes ME, you understand? You owe me BIG time."

"Who owes who what?" Roma gives them a puzzled expression.

"Never mind." Alice grumps. "We can talk about that another time." Antonio is overwhelmed with the situation and doesn't know where to look. To his cute Roma sitting comfortably at the table of his first love while sipping coffee and looking up at him through her brown eyes; or the fiery glinting green-eyed refusing to accept him entering her territory. Yet, considering the presence of the intruder's daughter, Alice seems to be kind of ready for negotiations.

"I'd be happy to." Antonio decides to take on both opportunities. –Having to wait for his daughter in Alice's kitchen sitting at her table AND having an excuse to meet the later again. So he just invites himself to sit next to Alice who glares daggers at him. Knowing fully well how the blonde hates it whenever someone ignores her need for personal space or dares step into what she sees as her territory, he makes sure to take up as much space as possible. "Though I don't see a reason for you to act so hostile towards me." He smiles at the Englishwoman just long enough to catch the warning glint in her eyes before he turns to Lovina. "What did you have for dinner?" A content smile curls up on Lovina's face.

" _Gelato!_ " Antonio raises an eyebrow, asking:

" _¿El helado?_ " Then he looks at Alice: "You didn't really just eat ice cream for dinner, did you?" The blonde woman shakes her head while looking slightly confused at Lovina and back at him.

"No. We had stew before that." She looks back at Lovina again as if trying to figure something out. At hearing Alice's comment of what they ate, he realises something in Lovi's expression changing as well as if she just remembered something odd, making him wonders what the two were speaking about THIS time… Or it was just the stew's fault? Whichever it is, Lovi remains awfully quiet after that.

To Antonio's disappointment, Alice realises that the teenage girl takes the last sip of coffee and therefore gets ready to kick them out of her kitchen. "Well then, Lovina, as your father came to get you it seems like it's time for you to go." And she smiles at Lovi. SMILES! For the first time in his live Antonio is jealous of his daughter. When Alice turns towards him again, she wears her perfect expressionless face and just nods him a good-bye.

Then she leaves the kitchen to unlock the door for the two South Europeans. Antonio sighs and gets back on his feet, feeling Lovina quietly follow after him. The girl waves one more good-bye before they enter the car. Then, finally, the unfamiliar deafness of his daughter disappears as she immediately turns towards him.

"You were the guitarist of a band?!" Surprised by the new knowledge his daughter gained, he just laughs.

"So Alice told you?" Lovina frowns when he starts the car.

"Aren't you supposed to call her «Miss Kirkland»?" Lovi accuses him as if jealous of hearing him casually using the name. Antonio just shrugs again.

"Which is weird, because I got to know her before she could even properly pronounce the name. I guess it's because she doesn't want to be associated with Francis anymore. Kind of acting like their marriage never happened." – Whatever the reason; if it makes her slightly blush whenever he ignores the unwritten rule from time to time to call her «Alice», he even forgets to wonder where her wish to be called by her maiden name comes from.

But after this comment Antonio is greeted by a quiet Romana once more, he wonders what is occupying the kid's mind. _"¿Que pasa?_ You're not usually this quiet. Anything bothering you?"

"That song…" Antonio gets taken by surprise when Lovina suddenly turns and leans over to him, eying him distrustfully. He struggles to keep his grip on the wheel. "The one you always played for me… I heard it today."

"Ah, _sí?_ " Antonio tries to keep his eyes on the road even with Roma staring at him from up close. He has no idea which song Lovi is talking about…

"She uses it as a ringtone."

"You're talking in riddles, Roma. Which song? There are many songs I played for you and still love to play." The Spaniard searches her brown eyes and earns an annoyed:

"A fucking cover of some song. –Like I know the name!" And as she always loves to do, she throws her arms up to show her displeasure. "Fucking drums –intro that almost gave me a heart attack! _Macero_! Potato Bastard!"

"Lovi~ Watch your words… I don't like you calling my friend a potato. Even less to tell him to rot…"

"His own fucking fault. It should've been your intro…" At this grumbled comment, Antonio's lips curl into a grin. THAT song. Yes, after all it's one of the songs Alice loved to perform the most. But this seems to irritate Lovina again. "What are you grinning for?! I thought…" Lovina sinks back onto her own seat, folding her arms in front of her chest. Then she grumbles: "I always thought this song meant so much for you because… Well, I thought it had something to do with Mum!" She finally shouts at him. Antonio frowns. Judging by Lovina's troubled reaction he feels it's saver to stop the car. There is no-one else on the street anyways, so he takes his time to eye the troubled teenager.

"What makes you think that?"

"You… You would always play it for me…" Lovina stares out of the window to avoid his eyes. "Or whenever you are feeling down." She grumbles with pinkish cheeks and a deep frown.

"Lovi~ _¡Que lindo!_ Just how cute can you be?!" Aww, his heart clenches whenever his little girl actually admits she adores him. But said princess turns at him with a furious glint in her eyes.

"No _«¡Que lindo!_ » this time!" Lovina jumps up from her seat once more, fire burning in her brown eyes. "I'm being serious! Has this song got anything to do with my Mama?! And WHY does Miss …, Ah _vaffanculo!_ -Alice know it?!" Antonio rises his hands in surrender at the outburst of his daughter.

" _¡Calla_ , Lovi! Calm down." The teen glares at him making it clear that he'd better come up with a good explanation if he wants her to calm down. "It's true that this song means a lot to me. But it's got nothing to do with your mother. _Lo siento,_ I didn't realise I gave you that impression…"

Lovina doesn't reply anything but glares at him once more and then let's herself drop back on her seat angrily. For a while, neither of them says a word and Antonio slowly turns the key to start the engine again. Then, almost not hearable, he hears Lovina ask:

"Did Mama leave you?"

He'd rather not answer the question and the ones he knows would follow, so he just shakes his head. Lovina huffs angrily and turns once more to stare out of the window. Antonio would love to hold his baby-girl in his arms and assure her that both her parents deeply love her, but he knows he can't.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **I hope I'll be able to update some more this weekend. I'll do my best!**

 **Happy Easter!**

 **Don't forget the reason we celebrate this day ;)**


	7. You WILL call me, right?

7

 **A/N**

 **I replaced chapter 5 as I found a song! And I split it in two chapters; so from here onwards is new content. ;)**

 **It's not much of a difference; but enjoy!**

 **THANKS to Bee who helped me get an idea of what song I was looking for ;)**

 **xxx**

" _Lovi~ Lovi~ Ti svegli!_ " Lovina registers an annoying poking feeling disturbing her peaceful sleep.

She was just walking through a horrible forest with thousands of annoying bugs and spiders she had to avoid, when she ended up at the beach in front of a monstrous plate of pasta made out of sand. And a fork almost flying mid-air with some spaghetti around it. Creepy. A little white flag waving in front of it as if it were a country's sign declaring the piece of art to be a new Micronation.

" _Carità!"_ Lovina grumbles as the pasta becomes bigger and the poking doesn't stop. "Spare me."

"Lovi~ Wake up, vee~"

The pasta is still growing, bigger and bigger, until it explodes and sand starts raining down on Lovina, poking her shoulder strongly.

" _Smetti!_ FUCKING STOP IT!" The teen jumps up in shock at the pile of sand attacking her left shoulder. However, instead of staring at a brown messy mass, she finds herself angrily glaring at a vaguely familiar silhouette.

"Vee~! Lovi, did you have a weird dream?" The voice confirms the person in front of her to be Feliciana. Though before she can even register the happy smile that is directed at her, Lovina feels the accusing glances people throw their way. Glances that state they'd rather keep away from the bad tempered teen who would even shout at someone as nice and naïve as Feliciana.

Lovina frowns at the auburn haired girl and grumps a sleepy question what the heck the girl came here for.

"But Lovi… Lunchbreak is over." The annoying girl tilts her head and smiles cutely… stupidly!

"Fucking don't care." Lovina pulls the chair back and sits down once more. "Time for _siesta_." She shuts her eyes and her head immediately falls down again. The _Bastardo_ taught her to enjoy her _Siesta_. So not even fucking school can keep her from doing so.

"Lovi~" Feliciana continues bugging her until the grumpy teen snaps out of her nap again just long enough to give the other girl a «Lemme sleep»-glare. Which doesn't work, as her dozing off is once more interrupted by endless poking.

"Piss off, Feli, will you." Though the plan of scaring the girl off doesn't seem to work, as the poking just increases, accompanied with a happy:

"You called me «Feli»!"

"Sure. Of course that's the only part you would hear…" Sighing heavily, Lovina accepts her fate and slowly lifts her head to throw a sleepy glare at the hyper-happy girl. "I'm up. Happy now?" The sleepy teenager is greeted with radiating beams and vibes emitting from Feliciana.

On her own end, Lovina is still trying to bring her consciousness back from the land of dreams and powernaps. Oh what a beautiful place… Except for the fucking creepy pasta.

"Heads up!" A strong slap on the back makes Lovina jump up once more.

" _Vaffanculo_! What the he…"

"YO FELI!" A loud voice cheers over Lovina's outburst. The startled brown haired girl holds her back while the amber haired in question just smiles stupidly at the newcomer.

"Hi Amelia."

"Oh. Now you're over there?" The blond haired gazes up «confused» written all over her face. Then her eyes start sparkling in bubbling excitement: "Holy crap! Did you just TELEPORT yourself?!"

"Wrong person, _idiota_." Lovina grumps while still rubbing her hurting back, wondering where the girl gets her ridiculous strength from. Can't just be baseball, can it?

"Oh." The bothersome girl's blue eyes wander from the dorky smile to the refusing frown and back. Then back to the dark brown haired girl and Amelia tilts her head in confusion as if wondering who it was again. "There's two Felis… No… Did I miss something?"

A few annoying stares later it seems to dawn at her: "Ah! It's only the mafia bitch-reflection of Feliciana." Her damn-blue eyes flicker innocently and Lovina would love to see the skin surrounding them turn just as blue THIS FUCKING INSTANT.

But before she can really start throwing curses at Amelia, Feli takes her arm and pulls the angry teen behind her towards the classrooms. Lovina invents random threats for the blonde she-bastard even after she disappeared from the Mediterranean girl's field of vision.

"Ve, Lovi, we need to get to classes."

"Fucking she-bastard! What alien shit got mixed up in her brain when their midnight experiment went wrong?!" Lovina continues ranting even when they enter the classroom and she earns another collection of shocked and distant glares from her classmates. Curse High School. Just why the fuck does she need to attend this bullshit community which is hosting people like AMELIA and fucking people-pleasers crowding around the fucking RUNAWAY just to suck up to her?!

"But Lovi. Amelia is not a bad person. Last week, she actually…"

Lovina rushes around and grabs the frailer teen's shoulders, staring in her slightly open amber eyes and presses the naïve teen to keep her distance from the blonde. "This girl is bad influence, Feliciana. You trust people way too easily!"

She shakes the girl back and forth to empathise her words. Then the annoying curl stuck on the side of her friend's… classmate's (!) hair catches her interest and Lovina frowns at the messy ponytail when the auburn haired girl squeals a blushing: "Ludwig told me the same…"

Though Lovina's killer intent was slightly distracted by the mess of a hairstyle hurting her pride, it is easily re-lit upon hearing the name of the German. "The Potato Bastard is bad news too!" She grumps quickly, overriding her confusion about what to do about the guilty feeling telling her she; for once; could actually agree with him. "He's too old for you."

"Ve~?" Feliciana tilts her head and for once the grumpy girl can be happy her classmate is this oblivious. It would have been a very bad idea if said girl realised her time spent with her tutor is slowly increasing. Much to Lovina's displeasure. Just as Feliciana's messy ponytail.

"Geez. At least learn to fix your hair properly…" She grumps and untangles the ribbon to run her fingers through the auburn hair receiving a cute:

"Lovi! You're so nice~"

"Don't overthink it. I just don't want people to mistake me for someone with such a messy nest on her head."

xxx

"Break time!" Antonio happily skips outside and lazes down on a bench. He stares up at the blue sky watching some birds fly in circles as his eyes slowly start closing. However, before his mind can run off to think about whatever and later about nothing when he falls asleep, an annoying thought pops up and keeps him from his long-awaited siesta in the sun.

Last night Lovina kept nagging him about her mum and he had refused to answer her. When she finally realised she won't be able to squeeze anything out of him, the girl stormed to her room and slam-closed the door behind her. He heard some things unhappily meeting the walls and the floor of her room until the cursing faded and Antonio assumed she had finally fallen asleep.

He didn't see her since then and she even avoided him in the morning. (Which meant skipping breakfast; something Roma would NEVER do.) So she was still angry.

Antonio slowly lifts one eyelid and lazily watches the birds above him. He sighs. If he could just erase the topic. He doesn't want to talk about that.

If it went HIS way, Lovina would just stay his daughter and he would just stay her single-parent father without any further questions and fights. Raising her had never been an easy task, but he would gladly take all exhaustion coming along with it over and over again, if only he didn't ever have to worry she might leave him when she learns the truth.

« _Hola Roma. ¿Estás libre ahora?_ » The Spaniard decides to text her.

« _Idiota_.» Lovina replies. A good sign! She seems ready to get in contact with him again. « _Bastardo_. M at school; what u think?!» The Spaniard shrugs at the answer but keeps his phone flipped open. And his baby girl doesn't disappoint him.

"So you ARE free?" Antonio smirks as he answers the call.

"I am fucking not free!" He hears some angry footsteps shuffle and assumes that Lovi skipped class to go «to the restroom»; refresh her makeup or something.

"Lovi, what about I come get you tonight after school and you can drive home? We didn't have a lot of possibilities to go lately." A grumpy reply follows as Roma accepts his piece-offering and he prays the unwanted topic will be forgotten once more.

Then, it seems his daughter's phone gets snatched away which is immediately confirmed by a happy:

" _Zio_ Tonio! How are you doing?" And his heart melts.

"Fucking stop calling the _Bostardo_ «Uncle». And hand my phone back!" Hearing the ranting in the background, Antonio knows his Lovi won't give him a lot of time to chat with Feli, so he makes sure to blurt out as much as possible and as fast as he can:

"Feli! _Estoy bien, gracias._ And you? _¿Cómo estás?_ How are you! Is Lovi taking good care of you?"

" _Sì_. Lovina is nice as always." He smiles at the happy voice who shortly pulls away from the phone to ask the other teen: "Ve, Lovi, I don't understand Spanish. What did he say?"

"Like I know. You're talking to the _Bastardo_ on the phone, _Idiota_. Can't listen in on that, can I?!"

"Ve~ _Zio_ Tonio, what did you ask?"

"How you are doing, Feli." He grins and would love to ruffle the kid's hair; setting his own girl off screaming at him how she now needs to help Feli properly putting her hair up again.

"Ah _, sì. Va bene_ , thank you." The cute girl hums.

"Now stop flirting with him and hand my phone back, will you?!" It doesn't take any more but a few complaining and pouting squeaks until the phone is back in Roma's hand and she mutters about him stopping to be all friendly to people besides her.

Antonio skips a teasing comment of his baby being jealous and instead asks her about the sudden increase of question tags in her language.

"You _learned_ that from Alice, _didn't you_?" He teases, faking a bad try of imitating said woman's British accent.

"Shut up, _Bostardo_!"

"Oh, so you still call me that? You didn't change it to « _git_ » yet?" The man laughs happily when an angry voice interrupts their chitchat on the other side of the line. Teacher, Antonio guesses and isn't surprised as the phone call is interrupted after a muffled:

"Confiscated."

xxx

Matthew yawn and looks out of the window with little motivation. He longs for his cuddly pillow and his fluffy comforter. Dying to snuggle up in his blankets reading a book and enjoying his alone-time with some hot chocolate.

The young blonde passes groups and groups of students walking by while chatting. Then some teacher decides it's time to let some fresh air in and opens the windows. Matthew sighs in disappointment as the warm air starts filling the halls. He's a winter person. Proudly wearing his red sweaters out when everyone else complains they'll freeze to death.

Everyone but few other hockey players and a certain librarian.

"HERO APPEARS!" Loud, thumping footsteps quickly approaching give Matthew a last-minute warning to brace himself. Shortly after he finds himself in a bear hug, quietly struggling for breath.

"Hi Sis…"

"YO MATTIE" The boy in question quietly tries to remind his sister that there's no need for her to shout while standing next to him. "Just wondering what my baby brother's been up to lately!" She beams at him and ruffles his wavy hair.

"Nothing really." Matthew shrugs and digs his hands deep in his pockets as he feels uncomfortable with the look Amelia gives him.

"DUDE! You're in High School! You should go DO some shit sometimes!" But he's not in the mood to talk back to her. Going home and read sounds like quite the plan to him. Amelia shifts her weight from one of her legs to the other and tilts her head. "Say. Did the old hag contact you?"

The boy shrugs. "Didn't…" He mumbles even more quiet than normal.

"SPEAK UP! What the heck did you say? Can't understand you, dude!" The trendsetter leans forward to eye him suspiciously and Matthew would love to fade into the background instead of seeing people turn towards the couple with curious glances.

"Didn't get in touch with _Maman_ lately."

"NOT?!" Now the girl's head dashes backwards in shock and she angrily places her fists on her hip. "I see. So miss high-and-mighty wouldn't lower herself to call Daddy and ask to talk to you?!" And Matthew rolls his eyes.

He knows where this is going. And it's no longer about whether or not his Mum got in contact with him. Nope. "I mean, come ON! It's just a stupid PHONECALL! But no. The second Queen of England might lose… I don't know… A strain of hair when she has to call him… If only they would TALK to each other. Things would finally go back to how they were and we get the two oldies out of our hair."

"Being realistic has never been your strength, Sis…" He grumbles and listens to his sister rant.

"Mattie!" She sparkles at him. "You WILL call me, when the old hag calls Daddy, right? And then we can call Toris to contact Eduard to hack in the phone! And…"

The young blonde listens to Amelia's very own plans of how to get their parents back together and wishes she had got only the slightest bit of their Mum's ability to read the atmosphere. Just a tad. _Seulement un petit peu._ He shuffles closer to his hyper speaking sister and pokes her shoulder to get her attention.

"Sis, I don't have a phone. So it wouldn't…"

"Walkie Talkie!" Amelia declares. Now her eyes REALLY sparkle. It's like stars start twinkling in these blue orbs. And she continues her weird plan about how to manipulate the phone call and… He trails off. Knowing it's not really anything within the possible anyways.

Just to focus again when her amazing imaginary skills rivalling every script writer concludes her story:

"And they will have no choice but to agree on meeting up for… For a crappy _cup o' tea_ or some shit. And fall in love once again. –Though we'd need to go into detail about how to manipulate the date at a later time. This needs to be well planned out!"

Matthew doesn't want to hear any more of his sister's non-existent matchmaking skills. So he decides to change topics. From how their Mother doesn't call him to how their Mother doesn't call their Father to how they should make up to…

"Amelia, wanna go get some ice cream?"

And it works. It always does.

"Sure!"

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Lovina is throwing random curses at Feliciana and she is just going like "You called me Feli" …I want to have that selective hearing too :'D** **Feli, Tonio and Amelia just pick the things they WANT to hear and ignore the rest :'D That's quite the helpful talent!**


	8. Francis-specified adjectives

Alice unlocks the door and enters the quiet house. She takes her black pumps off and places them in her shoe-organizer. When she turns towards the hallway, she is once more greeted by a dark, empty room.

Before Amelia had her outburst; going all «I'm moving out» and disappeared off to who-knows-where, the Englishwoman would always be greeted by the television on a to-high volume and her daughter either laughing noisily at a childish cartoon, or loudly commenting her games.

Sometimes said girl would also be dancing through the rooms listening to the latest teenage-group of make-believe singers. Complaining whenever Alice would turn her daughter's music off and start some REAL music.

«Mum, stop playing that crap! It's creepy imaging you as a teenager listening to THIS kind of music!»

And then endless bickering would start as Alice would always try to make her daughter understand just how great punk rock is. But Amelia was, and still is, a lost case.

"It's at least better than these one-hit-wonders the American charts are spitting out." Alice mumbles to herself. She takes a lighter out of the cup that she just recently set on the drawers to replace the bowl Lovina broke. Gliding through the empty hallway to the kitchen, she finds it to be quite comfortable having some time to herself.

Alice lights the green candle she had placed on the willow sill and enjoys the smell emitting from the junky-candle with the label «Lush green forest». After watching the new flame dance for a while, the Englishwoman frowns.

She could actually enjoy this if it weren't for the fact that Alice doesn't know where her daughter is. And how she affords to live there!

Food and a place to sleep cost money. Not even speaking about laundry, showering and the like… Unless she found someone where she can crash. But then again; would people actually allow her to free-lance at their place for such a long time? Amelia disappeared more than two weeks ago.

Francis didn't call her, so Alice doubts her ex-husband knows about the disappearance of his daughter. Maybe Matthew knows?

But calling her ex to ask him will most likely lead to the Frenchmen learning about their fight as well… The school didn't call either. Thanks to that Alice can at least feel somewhat relaxed that Amelia is still attending school.

Though Kiku is so nice as to frequently call her and reassure the worried mother that her child is safe and sound. Is eating properly (whatever that means… Most likely he just refers to the amount of food, wisely not saying too much about WHAT kind of food Amelia consumes… Not that Alice doesn't know that anyways). Has opportunities to wash her clothes and seems to get enough sleep to survive the day.

But her daughter doesn't seem to care whether or not her mum knows where she is and what she does.

"Is this the second terrible twos?" Alice grumbles and distances herself from the flame. She needs an earl grey. Her hand moves towards the kettle when the phone rings.

Alice frowns. The last times someone called her landline it was either call centres or… And her frown deepens. Mister Carriedo. "Good evening. This is the Kirkland's."

"When zid you multiply, _ma chérie_?" Within the first accent-flooded words, the receiver crashes back down on the vintage phone-holder. Couldn't these idiots just all leave her alone?!

Then she frowns as an unwanted worry forms in her thoughts: –Did Francis actually come to know something?

The phone rings again after a few seconds. -Of course it would… Wouldn't be Francis if he gave up fast.

Alice takes the phone-receiver once more and holds it to her ear without saying anything. " _Ma mignione_ Alice!" Ok, maybe she SHOULD say something. Or more like CURSE. ¨

But IF Francis does indeed know something about Amelia running away, she has to go through this.

"I must say you surprise me! Why wou'd you announce yourself as «ze Kirkland's»? Are my brozers in law zere?" Alice's finger angrily tips at the kettle producing short clinking sounds.

As she doesn't answer, Francis tries to lurk her out with stupid nicknames and her finger attacks the poor kettle even more.

" _Mon lapin,_ are you still z'ere?" The Englishwoman feels her patience fading more and more. She reminds herself to remain civil. Just a little bit longer… A little bit…

"Why do you call? Cut it short. If you use any more than three seconds for it, I'll hang up on you." She growls and especially emphasises the next word: "AND I am neither «yours» nor any of these stupid nicknames which I won't repeat! NOR are they YOUR «brothers in law»"

Then she silences again and looks at the kettle. It's not the poor thing's fault her Ex is such an idiot. She should treat it more nicely afterwards and actually cook some tea with it.

"Ohohon, _ma chérie. Qu'est ce qui se passe ?_ What's the matter? You seem raz'er annoyed." Then the tone in his voice changes and Alice feels chills run down her spine. "Z'ough z'at's also really attractive… Want me to come over and…"

"AND that's three seconds!" Alice slams the receiver down once more and completely forgets about whether Francis knows anything. And about her tea.

Tea couldn't settle the anger in her belly right now anyways. More like a ton of beers and hours of ranting about the:

"Frogleg-eating-Flirting-with-anyone-who-is-not-fast-enough-to-run-away-Two-timer-Narcistic -Singsongingly-speaking-with-his-heavy-accent,-dropping-in-as-many-French-words-as-possible-just-to-piss-her-off… -ARSEHOLE!" She sums it up.

Oh yes. She could EASILLY continue ranting and forming new word-combinations and endless combinations of Francis-specified adjectives. Could do so for the next centuries if needed.

"Arsehole is even too nice a word for him!" With her anger accumulating like the rainclouds over London's sky merge just before a mayor downpour, Alice grabs her bag and puts her pumps on once more to storm out of the house. Quickly looking through the door spy before opening; just in case Francis would pull the same dirty trick as their Spanish childhood-friend.

She needs to cool her head. Though looking up at the sky however makes her realise that it is way too early to go drinking and, even when angry, she's still too proud to go get hammered at this hour, making people think she is some desperate housewife wanting a companion in bed. Which she is not.

It's the opposite. She is already busy enough keeping a certain someone OUT of her bed, her house, her life and everywhere else.

-Unfortunately though he is still the father of her children. Which makes it impossible to completely escape as this would endanger her contact to Matthew even more.

xxx

"Excuse me." A voice interrupts Alice's exploding thoughts and she halts in her movement, immediately focusing on her expression to ensure she doesn't look at the Person with whatever kind of killer face she is wearing right now.

"Good Evening." Alice politely smiles at the person speaking to her and barely recognizes the brown haired woman with glasses standing in front of her.

What she does easily recognizes however is the scenery in the background. The shopping mall closest to her daughter's –and son's- school.

"Long time no seen, Misses Bonnefoy. How is your daughter doing? My son was in the same class as your child. His name…"

"It's MISS Kirkland. And I have two kids." Alice snaps at the lady in purple, nods a more polite "Now please excuse me." And turns the other way.

Maybe she should dye her hair? Light pink or something. Just ANYTHING that would keep both; people still thinking of herself and Francis as a couple AND the later out of her sight.

Or she could cut it.

Alice glances at her reflection as the sliding doors to the store open in front of her. Maybe not the best idea. She takes a strain of her blonde hair and looks at it. With this straw calling itself her hair cut short; combined with her flat chest… she would look like a boy.

Alice takes a basket and starts walking through the aisles without really looking for something specific.

Or she could pierce her ears and lips and wear chequered ribbons to hold up her pigtails like she did back in high school. And wear her beloved combat boots. Ripped leather jeans or chequered miniskirts with chains attached, jingling by every step she takes.

Alice didn't wear her beloved old garments in ages and she would love to take them out of her wardrobe on more occasions than the few times she goes drinking with Gilbert.

BUT Francis started his advances when she was still wearing the above mentioned pieces as casual clothes. So he wouldn't really care.

Remembering her past self makes her wonder what it was in the first place that Francis saw in her.

Alice looks at her silver bracelet and the black elegant pumps. What would she look like today if she didn't try to change for him?

He never asked her to. But standing next to him, it seemed impossible. Her dull hair next to his silky waves; her ripped clothes and his fashionable outfits. "We were a mismatch to begin with. Why did we even go out?!"

Alice packs some things in her basket without even realising and remembers the countless times Francis wooed her with beautiful words or surprises until she finally let herself drop in his arms.

Seeing how different they were, they didn't get along during high school. But when she met him again, he courted her however strongly she tried to push him away. And soon she found herself deeply in love with the charming Frenchman.

They fought and made up, then fought again. He would spoil her with his creepy ability to be open about his feelings; she would mess up with her inability to show them. But he still somehow understood.

In the end they became a couple. Marriage and Babies followed. Babies grew. Fighting increased. Divorce-papers were signed. And that was it.

"End of the fairy tale." The divorced woman grumbles.

Alice stops to take a look at her shopping, finally realising that the basked in her hands is gaining weight. Seeing the contents, she frowns and starts putting the popcorn and crisp bags back on the shelves. No use buying them as Amelia still didn't come home.

"Moni, Moni I wanna some chips too!"

She hears a little girl squeak and Alice lifts her gaze to see a kid jump up and down in excitement.

"No chips today." The tall woman shakes her head. Then Alice sees how a slender arm wraps around the woman's waist.

"Why not let your cousin get through with it for once?" The man looks up to look eyes with the blonde and the later blushes.

Alice turns away with a frown. She also has some maple syrup in the basked which she needs to put back in the shelves too. And no patience to watch a happy-go-lucky couple babysit their relative.

Alice tries to focus on her way back to where she got Mathew's favourite brand from, but finds her eyes dart back at the trio which look just like a real family to her.

Seeing them interact, Alice remembers that it's not like nothing was left of her time together with Francis. There is Amelia. And there is Matthew. Her beloved kids. -Though right now she doesn't have any contact with neither of them.

Splendid.

When Alice angrily stares at the glass-bottle, she realises that she packed something else she didn't intend to buy. Why did she… Alice sighs and decides to keep the item before looking for some new earl-grey.

She must be going insane. She should rather focus on her own family problems!

Looking at the red tomatoes in her basket, Alice wonders how Carriedo actually manages to keep his daughter this close regardless of the fact how different the two are.

"Thanks! Then I'll help myself…!"

The little kid from before jumps up and down, happily holding onto a small package of crisps. The woman, busy with keeping her boyfriend (?) at a platonic distance in this public place, shakes her head in disapproval.

"No, we're still in the store. You have to wait until we're outside."

"Fun spoiler!" The girl complains while sticking out her tounge and screams a " _Versuch's doch!_ Catch me if you can!" and dashes off.

For a while, Alice allows herself to watch the flirting couple trying to handle the hyper active girl. This must be what she and Francis looked like to others in the first years of their marriage before Matthew was born.

«Why did you split up?» The dark brown haired teen's question resound in her thoughts and Alice shrugs her shoulders once more. But that's not the question that counts. Neither are the questions whether it was a mistake to marry Francis or a mistake to break up with him the important ones.

Alice watches the couple disappear behind some shelves, discreetly holding hands.

No. The question is, if she would ever be ready to let someone touch her like this again.

xxx

Lovina stares at the school gate with a displeased frown. Where the heck is the stupid Spaniard? 

"Ve~ Lovi… How much longer do we have to wait?" The hyperactive look-alike next to her bounces up and down and makes Lovina wonder why she would even let Feliciana stick around her. "Ne, ne, Lovi…" The girl whines and Lovina glares at her, hoping the venom in her eyes would shut the kid up.

–Without any effect though, as the kid continues whining: "But Lovi… I made plans with Ludwig today. Can't we go to a café or something and wait for _Zio_ Antonio?"

Again, the bad-tempered teen frowns at the thought of her father's reactions whenever he meets Feli. But the thought of a cup of coffee tames her.

"Fine." She grumbles and the other girl jumps in excitement.

"Then let's go to the supermarket!" The auburn haired girl storms off and Lovina immediately regrets agreeing as she realises that this must be where Feliciana had agreed to meet up with Potato Bastard Number 1.

Seeing as she doesn't really stand a chance against her friend's puppy eyes AND the thought of a hot cup of her favourite drink, Lovina decides to follow Feli.

However. She grumbles to herself that as soon as she will catch a glimpse of the huge blonde, she will run. –Not that see is scarred or anything. She's just being cautious of the man who sticks around Feliciana WAY too much.

"Ve~ Lovi, hurry~" the other girl singsongs and grabs her hand to pull her towards the shopping centre. They enter the mall and Feliciana looks around curiously. "Oh, there's Ludwig~!" The girl rushes off as if nothing could stop her.

And Lovina swears to herself to someday strangle the German. Just because.

Sighting heavily, she starts looking for a save escape route and glances around until she catches a glimpse of a certain familiar face. The grumpy teenager frowns at the perfect excuse to disappear out of the Potato's reach standing just a few meters away.

Lovina throws a warning glance at Potato Bastard Number 1 before she turns to stalk away. An irritated: "Ve~ Where did Lovi go?" echoes from behind.

Quickly writing a safety-first text to Feliciana («Do not let the Potato _Bastardo_ touch you. Go home immediately after tutoring. Do not talk to strangers. Do not pick up stray-cats. _»_ ), she approaches the person that caught her interest.

"Oi. Looking for someone?" Lovina calls and the _Signora_ seems to finally snap out of her daze and turns to face Lovina with a puzzled expression.

"Good afternoon…" After the short greeting the blonde spaces out again, leaving the south European feeling like she is talking to herself.

When Lovina's phone vibrates and she gets a «Veee~ Roma, you're worried about me? _»_ in response, she turns around and glares back. Wrong.. She isn't worried or anything. She's just… just… well, just… It's because she KNOWS how naïve this girl is!

Lovina won't be able to walk Feliciana home today. So... It's just to ensure the girl doesn't trouble others! Or something like that... Therefore Lovina figured she should just write this text to prevent any unwanted events from happening. Yes. That's ALL there is to it. She's NOT worried.

NOT about the teenager behind her standing fucking way to close to the shitty German and NEITHER about the Englishwoman staring off into space as if she saw a ghost from the past.

Fucking NOT worried.

And NOT feeling really uncomfortable because she doesn't know how to react in such a situation.

Not at all.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **In case you wonder about Francis' statement that Alice should be the only one holding the "Kirkland" name in that household even though she lives with Amelia… I'll bring that topic up later.**

 **I want to avoid OC's So I will use the nyo! as well as the 1p characters of different nations. One as a main/side character; the other as a minor background figure ^^ PS: Crack age differences and the like alert!**

 **-Anyone figures who the woman and the couple in the supermarket is? ^^**

 **xxx**

 **And I am sorry about this being a slow starter…**

 **I know, though this is supposed to be a SpUK fic, nothing much Spuk! -related happened so far… Sorry. But it will soon, I promise ^^**

 **However, I feel like Alice would be the kind of person who denies her own needs and feelings and lies to herself about «being just fine on her own» until the last moment… So you'll have to wait for a bit longer.**

 **Plus the relationship of Alice and Lovi needs to develop at first too.**


	9. He would look exceptionally hilarious

"Good afternoon…" After the short greeting the blonde spaces out again, leaving the south European feeling like she is talking to herself. Which the later doesn't like.

"What're you daydreaming for, _Signora_ Kirkland?" Lovina asks irritated. The teenager is very annoyed when she realises the Englishwoman looking at her without really meeting her eyes.

"I'm… sorry." Alice snaps out of her blank staring once more. "I was just lost in thoughts…" She finally looks Lovina in the eyes and smiles. "So, what takes you here?"

At that, the teen huffs and explains that her classmate dragged her along and then dumped her for Potato Bastard #1.

"Oh. So your friend has a date with Ludwig?"

"It's COACHING!" The brunette corrects her and presses the fact that it's NOT a date. Then she assures that if it WERE, she would…!

"Oh, so you are jealous?" The blonde smirks and Lovina feels her cheeks turn red with anger. "You're worried the boy will take your friend away from you?"

Red with Anger! Not embarrassment because the woman seems to see right through her. Lovina coughs a frustrated "I'm not!" But Alice simply overhears her complaints.

"So, seeing that your «classmate» dumped you to meet up with «just-a-friend», what are your further plans? Going home?"

"Dunno." Lovina shakes her head. Then she hears a suggestion she would just love to follow:

"Want to go get some coffee?"

" _Sì_!" She almost blurts out and feels her cheeks heat up because it came out more excitedly than she had wanted… But she DID want to go. –Especially after all her plans for coffee with Feliciana (NOT her friend. Her classmate!) were cancelled upon the appearance of a certain fucking German…

xxx

Alice pulls out some cash to pay for their treats and watches Lovi scoop out the remains of her three-coloured ice, grumping as she realises the bowl is empty.

The adult grins about how easily she managed to tame the said-to-be hard to handle teenager. Coffee, ice cream and … She suddenly remembers the tomatoes in her bag. Should she give them to Lovina or would that just seem weird?

For the moment, the Englishwoman decides to wait and see. She notices how the brunette, after she accepts the fact that her bowl is indeed empty, starts flipping through the menu of the small Italian restaurant and stop at the part with the pizzas.

Alice makes a mental note to buy some Mozzarella the next time she goes shopping. –Just in case the Spaniard might; and most likely will; force his daughter onto Alice once more.

" _Dove sei, idiota_." The teen curses and flips her phone open for the hundredth-something time. Between her cappuccino and her sundae, the blonde learned that Carriedo promised his daughter to drive her home but made her wait. So the later decided to ditch him and follow her friend (?) instead, just to make Carriedo worried. –The last part was Alice's own interpretation of the teenager's words.

"Why don't we go shopping?" Alice tries to distract the grumpy teen. Plus it's nice to go browsing stores with a friend every once in a while and she didn't take the time to go shopping lately. But now the Englishwoman realises that she craves to know whether the latest pieces from the London fashion week finally made it into the local shops. She is still waiting for some pieces she plans to add to her wardrobe.

"I hope they have some decent brands in this shitty shopping mall." Something glints in Lovina's eyes which Alice easily reads as excitement.

Idly browsing through the stores, Alice and Lovina find few pieces that catch their attention. Showing them to each other, they comment and compliment or find each other agreeing over what doesn't suit them. Though they have different tastes, they can both enjoy the marathon.

After looking around for a while, the two women settle on taking a look at another small store that only just opened.

Lovina frowns disapprovingly at the door's loud screak when it closes behind them and looks around as if she ended up in a low-class second hand shop. The teen takes a piece in her hands and inspects the brand logo.

"What the…!" She holds a slightly off «Dolce & Gabbana» shirt up and angrily points at the «&» which differs from how it is supposed to look.

Alice shrugs at the fake and flips through more shirts to check their brand. Soon after she states that the shop does have some nice clothes, but that neither of them will probably be able to find any…

"Lovina." She almost snorts the name and points at a pile of clothes. If you could call it «clothes» that is.

The grumpy teen appears behind her and chuckles. While Lovina continues complaining that she will never return to the shop, they search through the pieces until Alice spots something. Triumphant, she a bundle up to show it to Lovina.

"Huh?" The girl seems rather puzzled at first, but Alice sees the corners of her mouth curl up when she seems to think the same as the Englishwoman.

"HE would look great in that, wouldn't he?" Alice winks at the brunette who returns with a cheeky smirk:

"Exceptionally hilarious." Picturing the Spaniard in the unusual getup, the eyes of the two women meet and they burst out laughing. Happily gossiping about Carriedo and different mishaps concerning the Spaniard, the two proceed to the cashier.

But not before Alice takes another pair of clothes which reminds her of her dork of a daughter.

xxx

"Oh, I remember clearly, how the Spanish git would stand glued to the window of the pet shop, randomly giving names to turtles." Alice recalls more of the funny moments with her childhood rival and hears Lovina snort.

"You wouldn't imagine what he brought home the other day…" Lovina frowns. The two women exchange a knowing grin and Lovina wonders just why she easily managed to get along with the older _signora_ but can't put up with all those hundreds of teens around her at school.

Since primary there has always only been Feliciana who was ready to stick around her for a long time. She did get along with others occasionally, but only few remained as friends and hardly anyone as close friend.

–Will Alice also turn her back at Lovina when she experiences the not-so-pretty and difficult parts of the teenager? Will she also label Lovina as hard-to-handle and want to dispose of her? Leave her alone?

"Let me take a guess…" Alice places her item on the sales area and winks at Lovina. "A butterfly!" Alice asks with an imitation of the Spaniard's annoying smile. Her voice dripping with sarcasm, she interrupts Lovina's unhappy loop of thoughts. Thankful for the distraction, the teen takes the prior topic up once more.

"Yeah, sure… a butterfly… He even NAMED the damned turtle." The blonde Englishwoman raises an eyebrow. "He said its name was « _Señor_ _Pádel_ ». Because it's as flat as one."

Occupied with exchanging oddities concerning a certain Spaniard and his interest in small and cute things, the two don't realise the curious glances of the shop assistant scanning the articles.

"What does it mean?" The English native asks.

"Paddle…" Lovina translates. Again, they exchange an amused expression when the shop assistant suddenly states:

"It's rare to see a Mother-Daughter pair idly going shopping together." The Asian smiles at the two who blink in confusion. But the shop assistant doesn't realise their puzzled expressions while scanning the articles and continues: "I wish I could be on such good terms with MY daughter. YOU two really seem to get along well…"

" _Cosa_?"

"Pardon?" They blink at the Asian employee. It takes some time for Alice and Lovina to process the words and understand the message in them.

Lovina immediately starts strongly denying, Alice adds a puzzled "We're not related…"

The brown haired woman gives them their change and tilts her head to take a closer look at the two very unalike women. "I'm sorry. The two of you just seemed… to get along pretty well. –You give off the same vibes or something like that?" She looks at them through her brown eyes.

Alice just nods and takes the money. Without saying anything else, the two customers leave the shop without realising two shadows following them.

As if not knowing what to do now, the Englishwoman and the Mediterranean teen stand somewhere in the middle of the shopping mall, looking around confused.

"Mother and daughter?" Lovina finally mutters. Then she shakes her head. "This woman's eyes must be rotten bad." The brunette furrows her brows and Alice wonders if she should tell the girl off and remind her not to use such language.

But somehow, she has to admit she feels the same, so she doesn't. "What a weird thought indeed." Is what she states instead.

The awkward silence continues as neither of them dares to speak up until a ringing sound makes them snap out of their muteness.

" _Pronto!_ " Seeing the immediate change of expression in Lovina's face, Alice knows its Carriedo before the girl starts scolding her father with words Alice is not supposed to understand. But even though she's never heard them before, the tone of voice and the grumbles speak for themselves: She is happy he finally called; yet unhappy it took him so long to do so.

She just uses slightly different vocabulary to word it… Or rather to curse it.

xxx

Walking up and down in front of the school gates, Antonio feels uneasiness rise. Where is Lovina? He quickly fingers out his mobile phone, praying that the brunette girl will answer it.

" _Pronto!_ " After only one ring, Roma answers the call as if she had been waiting for it. A heavy weight falls off his shoulders when he hears his girl's grumpy greeting and learns that she's save and sound.

"Lovi! Where are you? ~" The immediately following shouting forces him to hold the phone away from his ear. Through all the curses he doesn't even register anymore, he figures out that he read her schedule wrong. –Lovina's class was over one hour ago.

He checks the time on his phone. " _Lo siento_ , Lovi. I must have mistaken the days. I thought it was Wednesday.~" Another tsunami of cursing follows. " _Linda_ , I didn't want to make you worry~ I'm sorry."

"I wasn't worried!" His daughter complains. "I wasn't worried at all!" And then, her tone of voice changes to triumphant. "Not at all. Instead, I went for coffee with Alice. And we went shopping. So you see, I wasn't worried! _Bastardo_!" Antonio frowns. Lovi is with Alice?

The triumphant sound in his daughter's voice never escapes him. But lately it seems to increase whenever the teen is talking about her latest acquaintance. He can almost see the content glint in her eyes.

" _Sí_? So you're with Miss Kirkland? And where did you go shopping? Did you find anything nice?"

"Won't tell you. You wouldn't guess where we are anyways. –Oh, and ALICE treated me to a _gelato_ _tricolore_." Lovi especially emphasizes on the name and the Spaniard once more feels an unknown dissatisfaction about his daughter telling him how SHE can call Alice by her first name while HE (who has known Alice since centuries) must not. Lovina made sure to let him know she was on first-name terms with the proud Englishwoman over the whole last week.

"So you're in the shopping mall near to school, _sí_?" He singsongs and knows his guess was right when the girl tries her best to deny.

"No, we're not, _idiota_!" but Lovina's complaints go unheard as Antonio promises he'll be right there.

"I'll bring the keys."

"You'd better, _Bastardo_."

xxx

Alice watches the weird father-daughter pair with interest. Lovina is giving her dad a proper scold while the latter is lowering himself to appear smaller than her and receiving his daughter's rant with many whined apologies.

This continues until the teen seems to feel like she complained enough. Mister Carriedo immediately takes the short opportunity of his daughter thinking about what to call him next to raise up again and lock her in his arms. Ignoring her struggles under his hug, he steals the shopping bag away from her to catch a glimpse of what they bought.

Lovina blushes a criminal shade of red when he unfolds his newest pieces of clothing and starts flirting with the teenager (most likely about how cute she is that she would think of her daddy and buy something this adorable for him and so on…) who seems to be throwing curses at him sharp as razorblades.

Alice's lips curl into a small smile and she waves a good-bye when Lovina looks her way. Seeing the blushing scowl appear on the teenager's face instead of a smile as she waves back, the adult can't help but grin when she walks away.

Considering how different the two that are supposed to be blood-related behave, the Englishwoman concludes that Carriedo must have showered Lovina with so much love and care that he forgot to teach her how to show her own feelings.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Aww, just aww.**

 **And yeah… Not blood-related. Just two tsundere girls gossiping…**

 **Well, aren't I great in coming up with names for pets? *cough* sarcasm *cough***

 **Plus I plan to update the picture ^^ In case you're always looking for the teacup; you might not find it anymore**


	10. Adorkable Ninja style

**A/N**

 **Same situation; different POV**

 **xxx**

Matthew glances around the shopping centre while he nibbles his maple-ice cream. While listening to his sister boasting about how «awesome» her new life in the football gym is. She has a television, can eat hotdogs all day (and night) long and doesn't have a curfew nor anyone who tells her to go to bed.

"Kiku's such a nice dude, you know? He'd come over in the morning to make sure I get up on time for school."

NOW Matthew finally understands what is going on. –And how his sister managed to stay at the pace without anyone noticing the next day. –Must be the young Asian cleaning up after her and making sure her cover doesn't get blown.

Matthew keeps his thoughts to himself. Kiku's expressionless face is very hard to read; but he's stuck around Amelia ever since they met as freshmen… The blonde hopes that one day the shy raven haired boy will bring up the courage to confess… However. Knowing the senior, it's most likely that he's purposely playing to be oblivious of his feelings. Though Matthew doesn't understand why.

Letting his eyes wander around the hall, Matthew watches a weird couple and their daughter, a brunette approaching them and starting to argue with the kid… The group catches his attention for a while; especially the silver haired girl which seems to keep everyone busy but the brown haired man laughing happily. Then he trails off to look for another…

"Amelia!" The teenage boy suddenly stutters and tugs his sister by the hem of her jacked. The curvy girl doesn't respond. He tugs again, this time putting in more strength and pulls once more and once more; and once more, until the girl almost stumbles backwards.

"Mattie, what the…!" She exclaims but when she turns her eyes to see the two people who caught his attention coming out of a shop, she stops speaking.

" _Maman_ and… Isn't that your classmate?"

The two teens regard the women holding shopping bags for some time, then look at each other once more. Their bluish eyes meet and both blink confused, before Amelia exclaims: "DUDE, you're right!"

Matthew would love to face-palm at the loud voice of the blonde but decides it's more effective to simply cup his hand over her mouth.

She glares at him to thank him for that, but Matthew whispering "Don't go around screaming. I thought you didn't want to see her, eh?" seems to calm her down. In response to his question what they should do now, Amelia grabs his arm and tugs him away.

"Let's follow them!"

"Why?" The quiet teen tilts his head in confusion. "How comes you spy on your own Mum all the time? Just go and talk to her instead." He sighs but Amelia doesn't mean it as a question. No, it's a command. So he starts trotting after the blonde girl.

"They're going SHOPPING?!" Amelia exclaims again when the two women take a turn.. Matthew is thankful for the doors closing in front of them being a little old and creak noisily so the Englishwoman doesn't hear her daughter's loud voice.

The boy shakes his head at his sister's comment; as he wouldn't know any other reason for two girls holding a bunch of bags from different stores while in a shopping mall. "You're way too noisy." He mumbles. It's exactly as their Mum once stated: Amelia can't spy to save her life. And he wishes HE didn't have to tag along.

Soon after however, he finds himself entering the door behind his sister who behaves like a bad secret agent: Moving as obvious as possible, almost as if wearing a shield writing «stalking my Mum. Act, as if you don't see me» dangling around her neck.

No matter the weirdness, the shop assistants seem to understand her mission; or they just don't dare intervene with the oddly behaving teenager... At least they don't say anything about the two eating ice cream inside the store.

Matthew however (instead of telling his adorkable sister that changing colours and fading into the background doesn't work for normal human beings most of the time; nor does acting as a mannequin count as an effective strategy to go unseen) simply grabs Amelia's wrist and drags her to hide behind some clothing stacks.

"What are they doing?" Amelia asks, glancing over the piles in confusion and the two teenagers watch the weird pairing flip through a stock of clothes. Pulling out a shirt and boxers, they speak about something the spectators can't understand due to the distance. Then, -to the siblings' surprise, both burst out laughing.

"Is that a tomato-print pyjamas?" Matthew asks confused. Then he feels Amelia painfully grab his hand. Following her pointing finger, he spots a hotdog-print one in his Mum's hands. "Well, that one would suit you, eh?" He grins and her sister boxes him in the stomach, causing him to cough heavily.

"Quiet, you idiot!"

"Whose fault do you think it is that I'm coughing?" His complaint goes unheard as they see the two women slowly turn to the cashier. Matthew wonders if it'd be wise to change their shelter, but then decides to stay as it would be too obvious to go walking out of their hiding spot now. "Let's stay here. The cashier's near enough."

But he regrets his decision when the Alice and… And the other girl strongly react to something the cashier lady say. "Man, I can't hear a thing!" His sister complains his exact thoughts. "Let's go."

Her expression openly showing the displeasure that her Mum doesn't seem to miss her, the blonde teen leaves the shop «Ninja style». Now Matthew just can't help but face-palm before follows after Amelia.

The two walk through the hall and hide once more. This time however behind a big, white pillar, as the brunette takes her phone out of her pocket to answer a call.

After that, nothing interesting happens. Seeing the two standing there in awkward silence, each staring in a different direction, he really regrets they didn't move closer to understand what the cashier said. Matthew sinks down with his back to the pillar, finally finishing his almost melted ice. Amelia her double-chocolate flavoured one ages ago, binge eating it in the store while grumbling something about «quickly found a replacement».

Matthew knows that the Englishwoman wouldn't just go around searching for another girl to take care of now that her daughter run away and wonders if he should say something to his pissed sister. She's acting all paradox: Amelia wants to live her own way and be acknowledged for it. But seeing her Mum taking care of another girl her age makes her angry. Then again, _Maman_ isn't any better herself. She loves her daughter, but they always end up fighting anyways.

After some time, a new person joins the two. "Isn't that… Lovi-something's dad?" Matthew frowns as he recognizes the infamous teenager's guardian and wonders: "Wasn't it… Felizita… Feli… Feliciana… who laughs and smiles all the time?" Amelia just shrugs her shoulders and watches the couple acting all lovey-dovey.

"Dunno. One's grumpy, one's happy. Both look the same." The boy nods. They do look pretty similar. But, as far as he knows, their characters are as different as can be. Thus he thought it would be the bubbly Feliciana who was chatting with their mother.

Not so sure about this anymore, he watches the girl he just saw LAUGHING happily with his Mum… HIS MUM. LAUGHING with a, basically, stranger. It doesn't make any sense.

"They're leaving." The blonde boy states. His Mum's sad gaze as she turns away from the father-daughter couple doesn't escape him, reassuring him that she would never look for a replacement for either of her kids.

Without realising it, his feet slowly carry him closer to his mother. He wants to hug her. Tell her he's there and they're all still a family, when he sees her take a glass bottle with specific shape out of her bag. The one he would ALWAYS recognize.

"It's not like they would come over though…" He hears the blonde woman before she shakes her head and puts the maple syrup back in her the shopping bag where she carries the pyjamas. Then she takes out her mobile phone.

"Not good." He backs away and hears the loud first beats of his sister's ringtone while the later curses.

"Shit! Let's run for it!" She forcefully grabs his arm and dashes to hide, leaving a startled Englishwoman looking at the empty space where they just stood, thinking she is going to get crazy, once more seeing and hearing things that aren't there.

xxx

Antonio smiles as he carefully places his new pyjamas in the drawers. His little girl and Alice went shopping. And bought something for him. Cute. When his newest possession is put away, he returns to the living room.

Antonio grins at the familiar sight which greets him there. Papers spread out all over the floor, Roma sitting behind a big brown table, half-heartedly scribbling something in her textbooks. The television in the background advertising some new shampoo.

"Lovi, you can't study like that." He pouts and turns the volume of the machine down.

"Can do, _Bastardo_." The teenager complains and gives him a glare.

"How are your Spanish lessons going?" The man asks and leans over the table to see what she is writing. "But Lovi~" Antonio sighs and takes the sheet away from his daughter. "That's Italian… In Spanish it would be written like this." He grabs the pencil which she only hands him accompanied with a glare. The Spaniard corrects the spelling and hands the paper back.

"Not my fucking fault. Why is it that I need to learn both languages anyways?!" Antonio begins picking up the papers and stacking them on the table.

He doesn't answer the question Roma asked so many times already. She knows the answer; kinda. However, the kid continues glaring at him as if she wants to say something. She's been even more pissed off as of lately and he just prays it's got nothing to do with this certain topic she would bring up all the time over the last weeks.

"Lovi, what do you want for dinner?" He asks after a short silence.

"Pizza." Antonio wonders why he even asked. His daughter kept on nagging him why they didn't just stay at the mall and go to the pizzeria to begin with.

"Ok, we didn't make some in a long time." He dashes a smile at Lovina bright enough to make her scowl fade into a slightly blushing pout. Aww, she's just too cute.

"But it's still not the same as if it's baked in a real _forno a legna_." The girl keeps complaining as if she would expect him to run and go build a pizza oven in his backyard. He shrugs his shoulders apologetically and Roma frowns angrily once more. –He could start a collection with different angry faces the girl can pull off. Well, maybe he already has. His eyes wander towards the pictures in the living room, representing so many precious memories.

Seeing the moving pictures in the corner of his eyes, Antonio's attention is drawn in by something else as his gaze swifts towards the television. The advertisements are over and a documentation about pirates is being aired.

Hearing the name «Anny Bonny» immediately wakes his interest and he no longer focuses on listening to his daughter's rant but the narrator instead. The male voice is just speaking about how the she-pirate bet the lights out of a bunch of drunkards that dared harass her. "At least one of the men got hurt so bad that he couldn't leave his bed for a whole week."

Antonio smirks. This infamous pirate could have been Alice Kirkland's ancestor. And said girl was obsessed with her during primary. She would even read books about Anny Bonny and hold presentations. Or dress up as a pirate for Halloween and when Antonio showed up in similar attire, Alice would claim that the seas weren't big enough for the two of them; therefore they ended up fighting with wooden swords. Oh he would never forget their duels.

The narrator continues telling the story about how Anny met her husband, left him and started out as a pirate. Her bloody fights and how she encountered Mary Read; another female pirate and so on. And ends his presentation up with the explanation of why Mary Read and Anny Bonney didn't get hanged.

"What a crazy she-man…" Antonio hears Lovi grumble. The Spaniard however is busier with wondering what happened to Anny when she escaped death, than think about the «whole cross-dressing to go around to slaughter people» -thing.

"What happened with her afterwards remains a mystery." The narrator finishes as the pictures of the pirate fade away and then continues with a story about some other pirate and his wrongdoings.

Antonio sighs. So still no new information about what happened to her after she stopped pirating. –That is, if she really did…

However, Alice did. Of course she was never a real pirate to begin with; so stopping is the wrong term to use. But she had the soul of a pirate. Before she changed, that is. Changed a lot. Alice wasn't the same hard-to-approach «Lady» as she is trying to pull off nowadays. No. Alice was a fighter.

Having grown up with three brothers who treated her like shit, it's no wonder she learned to stand up against others. But even so, Antonio couldn't agree with her when she claimed the playground to be her territory.

Only toddlers, the English and the Spanish kid started out as rivals, engaged in fights day in, day out. When they enrolled school, they met Francis and Gilbert. Though the girl seemed to be fine with Gil at first, her dislike for Francis (and Antonio) was stronger and she started to avoid the three of them unless they ended up fighting over whatever. As they would always find a reason to fight.

Antonio continues to stare at the television absent mindedly; not realising the curious glances of his daughter. He is to absorbed in his own thoughts to register her shaking her head.

What is she REALLY like today? What about now? During her marriage with Francis, the stubborn woman seemed to have been tamed. Was she really? Or was it just a façade? Alice always loved to act polite and pretty on the outside. But was a burning fire on the inside.

And something in Antonio begins to be affected by that fire. Feelings he tried to ignore for the past seventeen years start heating up again. Like a flame lighting glowing ashes anew. He needs to know.

"What do you think, Lovi? Is she still a pirate?"

"The heck you talking about, _Bastardo_?"

But Antonio just grins. He needs to know. And he will make sure to bring that fire out of Alice again. Screw the polite lady.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Some people are really slow in getting things going… Sorry it also happened for this ff.**

 **Though now Antonio FINALLY seems to pick things up to make a move; and starting to get over the whole "My best friend's ex"-thing. (He's got a point, but then again… it was actually Francis who snatched Alice from his best friend first…)**

 **Maybe more about that later on; or in the prequel I'm planning :D**

 **And here's the new picture ^^**

 **I'm no artist; just a hobby-doodler. So if anyone feels like drawing a different cover for «4t»; feel free to pm me :D**

(4t = Teenagers throwing temper tantrums)


	11. Why don't you trust me?

**A/N**

 **Translation of the phone-call at the end of the chapter**

 **xxx**

The ringing of the bell is accompanied by a heavily accented: "You're dismissed." When the strict teacher releases the students. While her classmates start escaping through the door, Lovina gladly starts packing her things together to make sure she can also leave the room soon.

When she closes her notebook, the girl realises that she didn't really pay attention to classes at all. She never really does anyways, but today she could as well have skipped. Too busy with thinking about what happened the other day at the shop and ending up wondering what her REAL _Mama_ was like, there was no chance Lovina would have been able to keep up with the complicated formulas the man scribbled on the blackboard.

"Ve~ Roma!" A happy voice enters the classroom. The teenager in question just huffs and stuffs everything but her pencil case in her bag.

"Don't call me that, Feliciana. -I'll come in a sec." Lovina grumps back at the auburn haired girl with her ever-present idiotic smile. She turns her back to fish for a pen next to her desk which she forgot to pick it up after her pencil case fell down before the lesson started.

"Feli~ Long time no see!" Some of the other students call out and the teenagers happily start chatting away. As always. Immediately swarming around the bubbly girl with the ponytail like Feliciana would give them free pasta. (Which she would, if she could… And actually does every now and then…)

"Awww, you're so cute!" The group exclaims about whatever Feliciana just told them. Lovina stuffs her red pen in her bag and watches the flock around her frien… Around Feliciana. They all seem to adore the oddly similar-looking teenager; but avoid Lovina. The grumpy girl doesn't mind though. She'd rather not have these annoying people suffocate her while swarming around her. It's already annoying enough that she's surrounded by idiots who have this fucking annoying ability.

"WHAT'S UP YOU GUYS? Oh, YO FELI!" The loud voice of yet another of these idiots resounds in Lovina's poor ears. This day just couldn't get any better as she sees a strong arm lock around Feliciana's shoulder. When Amelia realises the crowd around Feli, the blonde immediately gets what she came seeking for: Attention.

"Hi Amelia~" The stupid girl smiles stupidly and doesn't even shake the arm off. Nope. If the idiot just would!

From afar, Lovina watches how the noisy blonde uses Feliciana as a jumping board to get the attention of her classmates back in one go. Just to come up with some weird plans where they should all go hang out together after school.

"Veee~ Ice cream sounds lovely." Something in Lovina's head clicks when she hears the stupid voice out of all the other agreeing ones and she shoves some people aside to grab Feliciana away from the group.

"We're late for Italian classes."

"Yo, why don't you come too?" Lovina feels an uninvited hand placed on her shoulder and immediately slaps it away to glare at whomever it belongs too.

"Not interested." Lovina declares and aggressively narrows her eyes to glare at Amelia who playfully lifts her hands.

"Sorry, didn't intend'a step on your toes." The blonde theatrically backs away just a bit too much and earns approving laughter from the crowd. "Who'd have thought the pufferfish was friends with Feliciana." Lovina's eyebrows twitch but Amelia doesn't realise and just turns towards Feliciana to ask if she would still join for ice cream.

"Go eat your shit yourselves." Lovina snaps and hurries off to their last class, hand locked around Feliciana's wrist.

"Lovi~! You're hurting me!" The other girl whines and interrupts her thoughts about how the fuck Amelia could EVER be related to the Englishwoman she got to know better over the past few days.

"Fucking shit. Why do you have to meddle with such bothersome folks?! Get some better taste in friends!" However, Lovina tries to slow her angry stomping down and loosen her grip as well. Lovina turns around to face her friend to say something when she suddenly bumps into someone.

"Sorry, eh?" A muffled voice says but Lovina doesn't care to look who blocked her way.

" _Afangulo_! Move it!" The female teenager shoves the other student to the side and continues her way towards the classroom while ranting about her dislike for Feliciana's choice of friends; especially emphasizing on a certain Potato Bastard and another certain Hotdog She-Bastard on which Feliciana insists she didn't really speak a lot with so far.

Nonetheless, Lovina continues grumbling about how Amelia doesn't really know any places where to get good gelato, earning a sad ve-ing sound from Feli. "But then I should tell her where to get good _gelato_ instead!" Immediately freezing as she hears the comment, now it's Feliciana's turn to collide with Lovina. The later death-glares at the girly idiot strong enough to make her get scared and Lovina about to tell her off, when she gets slapped at the back of her head.

" _Sedete_ " the teacher growls at the two girls standing in front of the classroom a bit too late and they quickly follow the order. Soon after, the man starts explaining some work sheets which Feliciana happily uses as a medium for doodling flowers and cuckoo-clocks and… a broom?

Even though she doesn't mind the young teacher, Lovina listens with only one ear, until her attention traces from the Italian to the broom to the annoying blonde classmate that just-so-happened to be Alice's daughter. What a fucking joke. People would actually ask HER if she was related to the Englishwoman who obviously looked like Lovina's polar opposite.

Turns out AMELIA of all people is Alice's real daughter.

THAT family-traitor! Amelia run away from home. Didn't give a shit about her mum even after weeks of not going back. Wouldn't even pick up her phone. (Not like she was looking, but after Lovina got to know she ran from home; «declared her independence» as Amelia loved to boast about it; Lovina had realised how the girl ignored many calls with the ID «the old hag».)

Not caring a shit about family at all! Amelia has both. A mum, a dad. And as it seems, she doesn't give a fucking shit about either of them. Lovina doesn't even know who her _Mama_ is. Because HER _Idiota_ of a father refuses to tell her.

That and… Wasn't it Amelia has a brother? Though Lovina doesn't really remember the boy, she is certain she saw the girl practise baseball with a guy that could have been him. It was more like Amelia smacking the ball in the other's face. MUST have been her brother…

"Never heard about the fucking «take good care of your _famiglia»_ , did you."

xxx

Matthew blinks back in confusion. Wasn't it the brunette the blonde siblings saw at the mall the other day? Or was it her look-alike? He stares after the two girls and shrugs. One of them collided with him and rushed off while dragging the other behind.

Seeing the two girls again reminds him of the look on his mother's face. Therefore Matthew decides it's high time he will talk to his sister and ask her for her phone so he can call their Mum.

Decidedly, the blonde freshman shuffles through the junior's floor to find his sister. After walking around for a while, he finally hears her loud voice echo through the halls and approaches it. Of course he finds the girl in a heated discussion with her friends about which place to go to after school.

"Hi sis." Matthew pokes her shoulder but the older girl doesn't respond. When he changes from poking to softly boxing her shoulder, Amelia finally responds.

"YO LI'LL BROTHER!" Amelia immediately swings her arm around his shoulders and drags him over to help her prove her point that Mc Flurry is OBVIOUSLY the best choice when it comes to where to get the best ice cream.

"Mc Donald's is not the solution to the world's problems…" The quiet boy sighs and adds a: "Neither is Burger Kind or any of these…"

"Who's that kid?" A brunette boy blinks at his sister with a calm voice and Matthew feels his Amelia's arm release him, just to grab his collar and pull him down to her height.

"TORIS!" She scolds. "It's my BROTHER! I've already told you so many times!" The boy tilts his head to take a closer look at Matthew, then turns to his friend with glasses who answers with a shrug. The freshman recognizes Eduard, the geek his sister told him so much about.

Before Amelia can start ranting about why people wouldn't remember her cute baby brother, Matthew quickly tries to get his request off his chest. –After all he's already gotten kind of used to being ignored and forgotten… Kind of...

"Sis, can I borrow you phone?" He quickly sputters and the girl gives him an asking look. Matthew knows he needs to come up with a good excuse that doesn't concern him calling their mother. "To call Dad… I forgot to ask him something…" It's not a lie either. He really SHOULD call their father first if he plans to stay out tonight.

"Sure dude." The blonde fishes the stars'n stripes smartphone out of her bomber jacket and Matthew is about to dart back so she won't hear him when Amelia grabs his sleeve.

"Sure. I'll finish quickly…" Matthew curses to himself and tries to think of a way to go around his sister later on. When typing their father's number, the blonde hopes that Amelia will remain her oblivious self and give up on listening in to their conversation when he speaks in French. Knowing how she is convinced every language but English is non-relevant.

" _Salut_ _?_ " He is greeted with his father's flowery voice.

" _Salut Papa. C'est moi._ " Matthew greets.

" _Ah, Mathieu? Mais c'est le portable de ta sœur, n'est pas?_ "

Matthew sighs and confirms: "Yes, I could borrow her phone. Papa, I have a question…"

" _Pardon, mon petit. Mais je n'ai pas beaucoup de temps…_ " He asks Matthew to cut it short. But before the teenager can even start speaking, his father remembers something else: " _Ah, est-ce que tu peux m'aider avec quelque chose, Mathieu?_ _J'ai oublié de faire les achats… C'est dac si je message la liste à ta sœur?_ _Merci!_ "

" _Mais Papa…_ _!_ " He tries to interrupt, but is cut off by his father once more:

" _Eh bon, il faut que je finis maintenant. N'arrive pas trop tard. J'ai préparé un Pot â feu pour diner._ _A_ _plus! Un bisous a Amélie_ _!_ " And after that, the blonde boy is greeted with a clicking sound stating the phone call was finished. With slumped shoulders, Matthew turns to the others again.

"As I just said. You've already met Mattie before!" Amelia is still busy with defending her brother's existence and doesn't realize the call already ended until the boy holds the phone up right in front of her eyes.

"Thanks Sis… Kisses from _Papa_ " Matthew mumbles and earns a questioning look.

"You all right?" Tilting her head, the blonde gives him a worried look which slightly lifts his spirits again.

But the expression lasts for only a few seconds. Then her interest changes again: "So. You're in for some ice, Mattie?"

The blonde shakes his head. "Need to go buy some things for Dad. He said he'll email you the list."

Amelia flips her phone open once more and hands it back. Matthew quickly doodles the things down on a piece of paper and stuffs it in his pocket.

The phone vibrates under a screaming "Hero Appears!"-ringtone once more and Matthew deciphers a text from his father asking what it was again he called to ask. «It's fine, it's been solved» He quickly answers, then locks the screen once more to return the phone to his sister.

Calling his mother doesn't make sense for today anymore; as the Frenchman already started cooking dinner.

"Well then. Won't let you back out next time Mattie. See you round!" The girl takes her phone and ruffles his hair.

"See you" Matthew sighs. Now he will need to come up with a new plan to go meet his Mum.

But well, at least they will have a nice dinner.

xxx

"Ocean coils

Water boils

He swims to the surface…"

The Bastard hums the melody which seems to be stuck in his head since over a week as he chops some fresh tomatoes for dinner. Water happily boiling in the pot.

Lovina watches the scene and frowns at the memories connected with the song. Her very own good-night lullaby. At least she thought it was. Then she heard Alice sing a completely… metal version of it. Sounding nothing like the unplugged guitar version the _Bastardo_ would sing all the time! Hearing about how he used to play said song with his band made Lovina realise just HOW MUCH she doesn't know about the man.

"Oi, _Bastardo_." Lovina inquires but Antonio doesn't react. " _Bastardo_!" She exclaims louder but he just continues to stare into space. Only when the teenager slaps him on the head with her hand, he seems to snap out of his daydreams.

"Ouch, Lovi, that hurts~" The brown haired man whines and looks at her with an asking look in these irritating green eyes. The girl frowns angrily.

"Stop daydreaming, _Bastardo_."

"Lovi… Won't you call me _Papá_ at least once?" The Spaniard looks at her like an abandoned puppy, making her even angrier.

Lovina. THE Lovina. Calling the _idiota_ with his ever-present grin and easy nature her « _Papa_ »… People would wonder what went wrong that made this mismatch of a family happen. She is nothing like him.

This causes a certain unwanted thought to make her thoughts run in circles once more: Is she taking after her mother? "Not happening, _idiota_. Tell me who my _Mama_ is."

Lovina's frown deepens upon remembering the simple question Alice asked her the other day. «Don't you… Kind of want to know?» The simple words still keep nagging the teenager and pop up in her mind every now and then.

She's heard many stories about how and why people would split up. Even Alice shared how she and Francis grew apart. But the Spaniard just won't speak about it. Thinking the worry in his eyes doesn't escape her, he keeps avoiding anything and everything got to do with her Mum, her family or Italy. In other words: her roots, her origin.

"Lovi, didn't I tell you that it's a topic I don't like to talk about?" He shakes his head in refusal to answer and turns towards his chores again so that she can't see his face. –As always; avoiding the topic. Avoiding Lovina!

"Just tell me. I know it's bothering you." But he doesn't. "Stop fucking avoiding my questions! I thought family is the place where one is supposed to do shit as talk about their problems…" The teenager grumps angrily; not knowing how to name the source of the irritation she feels rising. But she won't let him escape. Not THIS time. "Then why won't you tell me?! Who the FUCK is my mother?!" Lovina demands.

"Lovi…" He finally turns around, but looks at Lovina with THESE eyes. Eyes that refuse to properly look at her. Eyes which look through her as if he doesn't want to face HER.

It makes her feel sick.

"DON'T «LOVI…» ME! I just want to FUCKING know who my other parent is!" Uncertainty starts boiling in Lovina. Questions she held in for too long.

Who is her mum? Why did they split up? Why did she leave Lovina behind? Why didn't she ever turn up? WHY wouldn't the Tomato Bastard even show her pictures? WHY WON'T HE TELL HER? -Wasn't her mother supposed to be the woman he dearly loved?! Or not? What the FUCK did he do?!

Lovina can't stop the worries slowly turning to anger. Uncertainty transforming into a raging need for answers. What did her _Papa_ do?! What kind of bullshit that would be bad enough to keep it a secret from Lovina? Where does the worry in his eyes come from?

What? Why?

"DID YOU EVEN LOVE HER?!" She jumps up and screams all the frustration at him that was eating her up over all these years.

But his green eyes still refuse to look at her. "Lovi…"

Frustration. But not only frustration. A combination of feelings crash down at her at once. Pain. Hurt. Confusion. Disappointment? Yes. And anger. Raging anger.

Why won't he let her know? Tell her who she is. Tell her what happened!

Though the _Bastardo_ seems to try to calm her down once more with these annoying suing words of his, none of them reach her.

Lovina is boiling. Her temper taking her over. Any rational thinking; of which she doesn't have a lot to begin with, leaving her standing. Falling into a pit of emotions and rage, it is as if another person is taking over her body; swearing and hitting the man who raised her.

"Lovi~ _Te calmas_. Calm down." Antonio avoids her fists like he avoids her questions.

Anger and irritation lead to more fury and confusion, until she completely loses touch with herself and what's actually going on. "Fucking _Bastardo! Afangulo! Di detesti!_ You… Argh! I HATE you! You… _Idiota_ …" Her curses start to turn into babbled words and when she catches a breath to look at her father once more, her eyes meet his green ones.

Eyes, she loves to look at. And eyes she knows hide more pain than anyone would think. Eyes which refuse to share their pain. And THAT is what she really hates. His fucking desire to think about others before he thinks about himself. Refusing to let anyone help him with his problems unless there's no other way. Frustration starts materializing as burning tears. A strong pain in her chest eating her up. She can't watch him do that any longer.

"Why don't you trust me?" The words barely break her lips.

"Lovina?"

When she hears herself speak the words, the girl immediately distances herself. Taken aback by the sudden outburst of feelings, Lovina feels this sudden urge to hide away in a hole. Not knowing where to go with the chaos inside her chest anymore, she finds herself rushing out of the room, escaping through the door and running down the street.

When the brunette finally stops to catch some breath, she feels the cold evening-air surround her like a calming blanket. Lovina looks around and realises how far she ran. Glazing up at the darkening sky the teenager wonders what just happened. She was angry at him not telling her about her mum, angry at him for not sharing his worries.

"What happened?" Lovina barely remembers cursing and hitting her father. Then she sinks on the cold ground, hot tears running down her cheeks.

xxx

Alice stares at her phone. She doesn't know how long she has been standing there, reasoning with herself as to whether she should or should not call Matthew.

IF she would. It would mean that she FINALLY gets to talk to her son again. But… Francis. Alice wishes she wouldn't have to call HIM in order to talk to her son.

The Englishwoman angrily frowns when she thinks about WHY she didn't see her own son for such a long time. However, there sadly are multiple reasons:

Considering the fact that Alice works and her kids have to go to school, time to meet up at all is little to begin with; and parents aren't allowed on school grounds except for special occasions.

Also; seeing that Amelia doesn't live at her place anymore, the girl doesn't invite Matthew over for movie marathons and gaming any longer. It is most certainly also her daughter's fault that the teenager doesn't come by himself after school. Alice would bet Amelia knows how to keep the polite boy busy dragging him along to wherever she is going day in day out.

AND Matthew doesn't have a phone. Which means the opportunity to call him is on Francis' land line. Which is also a bad idea because this means Alice has to talk with her ex first. And that's always really disturbing. PLUS Alice DOES NOT want her ex to know about her troubles with their elder child.

Thinking how he might actually, for once, use his brain and realise that something is going on and (even worse) try to meddle with her business… Which she HATES! …

She will solve the problem with Amelia herself! So no way. She is NOT calling him.

Then again; if she doesn't call, there's no chance to talk to Matthew

Alice releases a heavy sigh and decides it to be less trouble to admit defeat and put up with her ex; coming up with some random excuse as to why she needs to talk with Matthew on the phone rather than in person. -Without having to admit that she didn't manage to get in personal contact with him over the last weeks.

Her hand finally stretching out towards the phone, Alice shrieks when said object starts ringing instead. She frowns. Most likely Carriedo. The annoyed Englishwoman grumbles angry curses as she checks the clock to ensure it's past the time when call centres try to sell stuff. "You will make up for this, stupid Spaniard. I was THIS close to call Matthew."

The Englishwoman ignores the screaming thing for a while, waiting for the ringing to stop. Only to start anew after a few seconds. It quietens down once more, then starts ringing again. And again. And again. Until Alice finally answers the call, ready to shout her displeasure out but is muted by a very disturbed sounding:

"Is Lovi with you?!" Alice blinks in surprise at the shaking voice. " _Por favor,_ Al _… Señora_ Kirkland. Is she? Please tell me Lovi is at your place.~" The Spaniard whines desperately.

"Did something happen?" A bad feeling creeps up her back and Alice frowns at her reflection in the kitchen window.

 **xxx**

 **Translation of the phone call**

"Hello?" He is greeted with his father's flowery voice.

"Hi Dad. It's me." Matthew greets.

"Ah, Matthew? But that's your sister's phone you're calling with, isn't it?"

Matthew sighs and confirms: "Yes, I could borrow her phone. Papa, I have a question…"

"Sorry, little friend, but I don't have a lot of time to chat right now…" He asks Matthew to cut it short. But before the teenager can even start speaking, his father remembers something else: "Ah, could you help me out with something, Mattie? I forgot to do the grocery shopping… Is it all right if I send it to your sis and you go collect the things for me? Thanks!"

"But Dad…!" He tries to interrupt, but is cut off by his father once more:

"All right. I have to finish now. Make sure to be home early. I prepared a _Pot â feu_ for dinner. See you soon! And kisses to Amelia." And after that, the blonde boy is greeted with a clicking sound stating the phone call was finished. With slumped shoulders, Matthew turns to the others again.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Do you guys think I need to start translating the other languages? Eg the phone call? 'Cause I always try to make it so the readers can understand through the context…**

 **But I don't know. Which do you like better?**

 **If there's any French natives reading this and spots some grammar mistakes or the like; feel free to tell me ^^**

 **xxx**

 **Right now I'm struggling with how to write the different ways of being angry :'D Thundered-pissed off; angry pissed off; fighting with a rival… Feedback please if it's to OOC! THANK YOU!**

 **And this ff will be long… Oh dear… Didn't intend to… But there's still so many things…**


	12. Subject's positon confirmed

"What the fuck happened." Frowning at the nervous wreck of a man, Alice slides down in the black seat and closes the door. The smell of the sun and wood immediately surrounds her, heavily contrasting the worried aura of the driver.

"Lovi ran away." Her old rival sniffles, hunching over the steering wheel. Alice grumbles something along the lines of her daughter turning into a fucking trendsetter once more before she slaps the back of the broken man's head.

"And why is that?" She demands before commanding he'd better start the car. "Won't find her if we don't start searching." Swallowing a «Git», the Englishwoman does her best to keep her polite language up even in the presence of the brunette starting the car, his crumbling figure still far from the proud wanker she hated during their childhood days.

While they drive, Alice quietly listens to the heartbroken Spaniard's soap opera of what had happened; and the thriller of what could have happened to the teenager since her disappearance. Her eyes absent mindedly gliding over the places they pass by, looking for clues, the Englishwoman can't find herself to say anything to cheer her childhood-rival up, leaving the two adults drive in silence.

Though she wouldn't admit the worry slowly creeping up her back though she doesn't know where it comes from, even Alice seems to get dragged down by Carriedo's nervous mood. And when a grumbled comment leaves her lips, assuring they will look for Lovina until they find her, she actually feels a little relieved, once more making her remember the reason she sat in the car. Finally able to break the heavy silence, a pair of tired green eyes blinks at her. He must be worried sick to respond with such a toneless voice:

" _Gracias_ Alice."

They circle around Alice's and Carriedo's neighbourhood, sometimes getting out; other times just driving by but they don't find a trace of the teenager. Stopping here and there to check at some friend's places once more, Alice spots somewhat familiar faces whenever they get out to ring another doorbell to ask if anyone happens to have new information of Lovina's whereabouts.

At their next stop, a black haired man with square glasses opens the door with a tired expression. Alice doesn't know where she saw him before… Quietly looking at the two guests, he sighs when the Spaniard standing at his doorstep shakes his head to answer the unasked question. " _Nada_. We are still looking." Carriedo gulps at his own words and Alice can almost feel his hopes to find his baby girl shrink with every second.

" _Zio_ Antonio!" A slightly fairer haired and -skinned version of the grumpy teen they are looking for darts out of the old-style maisonette and starts crying at the desperate Spaniard's chest, almost disappearing in Carriedo's embrace. Her words are barely hearable through her tears and Alice watches the man grumble against the teenager's hair to calm her down.

When the mother comes to take Feliciana back inside, the Englishwoman finally recognizes the kid to be Lovina's classmate and Gilbert's distant relative. Exchanging some glares over the husband's head, either woman is happy when they don't have to stay in each other's company for any longer. "Feli, let's go back inside."

"NOOOoooo!" The teenage girl scream-whines in refusal to sit still and wait for news, but gives in when her mother starts bribing her with the plan of making pasta for Lovina. "Bring _mi amica_ back, _zio_." She sniffles and slowly trots back to the house, preparing her friend's return.

" _Prometido, pequeña._ I promise I will. _"_

Before the two figures disappear, the curly haired woman and Antonio exchange a glance and Misses Hedervary-Edelstein frowns, her fingers clenching around the pan in her hand as if she would attack anyone who would dare come to close to her daughter or the girl's friend.

xxx

Antonio turns for the area of their children's school. Brown brick houses, skies scrapers, the shopping mall… He'd already checked all of them. But couldn't find a trace of Roma. An unpleasant feeling of worry starts to play with the switch of his personality, wanting to drag him away from his sunny nature to the unknown depths of his dark side. Knowing that there's no-one to focus his anger for pulling Lovi out of his reach towards but he himself is the only thing keeping the man sane. Antonio would happily crush the nose of anyone taking advantage of took their family problems, but prays he won't encounter anyone that could turn out as possible danger for his baby. Painfully strongly gripping his fingers around the steering wheel, it's only Alice's wondering question about whether Lovina would really come here that manages to bring him back.

"Maybe." The Spaniard sighs, finding himself lost in the reality of the moment. Getting lost in the joy of chatting with Lovi, or dancing or playing the guitar is something completely different than loosing himself in this long-held fear. Trying to switch his brain cells to «on», Antonio shares his conclusion that Romana would never go to a place she doesn't know. And he hopes it's also where they will find her. Rather sooner than later. He just MUST.

"Stop the car." The blonde's voice echoes in his hears and Carriedo looks up with an irritated expression, but follows the command. When they come to a halt, Alice grumbles the first words she asked him tonight once more: "Now spit it out. What the fuck happened."

"Hm?" The exhausted man sinks down on the steering wheel, crushing upon remembering his companion to be a brain-person rather than a feeling-person who could never understand the emotional shit he's just going through and blinks out of the window at some random-greenhouse he didn't even know was there. "Miss Kirkland, this is not the time to be speaking." He grumbles, still fighting against the urge to jump out of the car and run through all the blocks once more; opening each and every door and window until he finds Lovina.

The strong slap on the back of his head helps him to return form the endless pit of nervous emotions and sit back up, blinking at her once more. Surprised to meet angrily burning green eyes when he thought they would be calm and analysing like her question, he waits for her to speak. "Don't feed me bullshit you wanker. I bet Lovina wouldn't fucking run away for no reason." The Spaniard blinks at the sudden grumbled outburst. Though it's not the right situation for this, he has to suppress a chuckle at the thought of how many people would be shocked to see this side of the British «lady» they like to think Alice Kirkland is.

Then his frown returns when he remembers the depth of his problem and Antonio places his head atop the wheel. "Lovina wants to know who her mother is." He sighs his displeasure and earns an irritated:

"Yeah, so what?"

Antonio's head darts upwards at the blunt words and he finds Alice staring at him with a serious expression. "I can't!" He whines but the Englishwoman doesn't want to listen to his excuses.

"Why don't you just tell her? The kid has a right to know; whatever it is you messed up in the past. Every kid would want to know who their parents are." Then she adds a grumbled: "Doesn't immediately mean you will get along with them…"

And he wants to answer. But he just can't. Staring in these forest green eyes, he knows he just wants to tell her the truth. But it's impossible. He can't let more people get mixed up in this. Just can't. "Francis never told you?" Antonio finally manages to blabber out and wishes his brain would sometimes work faster than his mouth.

"No. -He may be an idiot and quite often a bad friend. But he didn't tell me the things you guys told each other confidentially." Though the Spaniard wonders whether «telling while drunk» counts as «telling confidentially», he finds nothing but honesty in her emerald eyes and finally manages to smile and agrees with her.

"Yeah, he's an idiot."

"I see. So, did you check the green house?" Glad with sensing she allows him to keep his secret for now, he follows her beautiful eyes, requiring why he should check a greenhouse. When it finally dawns to him, Antonio almost jumps out of the car. Greenhouse. Why, oh just why didn't he think about that before.

xxx

Amelia hums to herself, contently taking a bite of her third hotdog. Once more, an explosion of awesome perfection meets her taste buds! She happily continues chewing and mentally completes her list of times she saved the hotdogs in distress from people who wouldn't appreciate the unforgettable taste of her favourite fast food.

When her eagle eyes spot a familiar silhouette, the blonde immediately ninjas behind some parked cars. Amelia uses her X-Men abilities of making herself invisible and peeks over the cars without anyone seeing her. She slowly dashes forwards to get a better look at the subject.

Lifts her wrist with her invisible super-watch to quickly type her super-secret code, she unlocks the advanced features allowing herself to communicate with outer space. Shortly after, a hologram of her amazing undercover partner appears.

"Agent Tony." The blonde spy whispers. "Code «Scones and Tea». I repeat: «Scones and Tea». We have an emergency situation here." The connection to the alien-like figure blinking at her through the hologram is weak and the voice coming through her earplugs is barely understandable.

"Tony here. Tony understand. Agent E. Jones; Whe-re is the subject?"

Amelia spies around the corner of a blue Volkswagen and immediately darts back into hiding for a more detailed report. "The subject is right in front of me. Blocking my way. I can't access my new PS without passing by! Maybe I will need backup troops to retrieve my gaming gadgets." Tony answers something, then asks if the subject is by herself and the Hero in disguise takes a closer look with her eagle vision. "Two subjects confirmed." She whispers. "I repeat: two subjects conf… WHAT THE HECK?!"

Amelia almost stumbles out of her hiding spot when she sees the shitty old hag staring in the eyes of a brown haired man. Which is most un-amazingly likely NOT her Daddy. The girl could swear she sees some hearts sparkle in the Englishwoman's eyes and the later mutters something, before both get out of the car.

Using her chameleon-abilities, the teenager releases her secret-agent mode once more to quietly watch the lovey-dovey couple walking towards the greenhouse. A couple entering the greenhouse… Greenhouse…?! AT FUCKING MITNIGHT!

"Holy shit! TONY! WE NEED TO ORGANIZE AN EMERGENCY MEETUP! IMMEDIATELY!" The blonde tries to whisper but wants to scream at the same time. Which doesn't turn out well… Then she darts off to her secret quarters.

xxx

"Lovi! Are you in here?!" Just about to doze off while leaning on a wooden pile between tomato plants in full growth, the brunette jumps at the sudden voice calling for her. Realising that her plan of hiding in the greenhouse munching some of the red fruit she found the other day when she arrived at school almost dying due to missing breakfast only worked out for the «calm your hunger» part but not for the «hide away» part.

The teenager quickly wipes the remaining sweat from running off her face –she did NOT cry, and looks for a better place to hide. After lurking behind some plants and searching the area for a hideout, she finally lays eyes on a tiny brown shed. " _Perfetto_." Lovina rushes towards the tiny wooden building and tries to unlock the door as quietly as possible. For once in her whole life, she fucking manages to open a door quietly, and now it almost creeps her out.

Then again; not so perfect. The tiny house is stuffed with gardening tools she can only wish she could use for her own tomato garden. –Hers and the Bastard's tomato garden…

"Roma~" Another whining shout resounds between the glass walls and Lovina empties the shed as quickly as possible. And again, she manages to do so without any sound. "Romana! _¡Por favour!_ If you're in there, please answer!"

"Not happening." The teenager grumbles upon hearing his desperate voice and finishes building a pile of tools. Content with her work, the brunette slides in the shed and… accidentally kicks some of the equipment with her foot. Mutely cursing, Lovina freezes in her movement and glares at the tools as if begging them to keep quiet.

At first, nothing happens. Then the pile starts to crash down, making as much noise as possible and the shocked teen flees to hide in the shed with a panicking squeak. -So much for going unheard…

Footsteps quickly rush her way and soon the last person she would want to talk to starts slamming his fists against the door. The annoying voice creeps through the wood when he begs her to answer and tell him she's in there.

"Am not, _Bastardo_!"

xxx

Relieved to have found the teenager, Alice makes her way through the plants until she finds Carriedo who darted away as soon as he heard the crashing sound and the muffled scream standing in front of a tiny shad, talking to the closed door. Though Lovina is obviously hiding in the little thing which looks horribly uncomfortable, it seems she refuses to talk with the Spaniard. Remaining in her distant spot, Alice quietly watches the father trying to get his daughter to come out.

When he turns her way with an expression which clearly states that he doesn't know what to do or to say any longer, Alice decides to approach the two. "Roma… I know you're in there. Please come out." The Spaniard tries once more and earns a very pissed:

"I am fucking NOT in here! Go away, _Bastardo_! Jerk! _Idiota_!" But Alice knows better than to actually believe the girl is angry with her parent.

But the later doesn't and looks utterly defeated. So she places a calming hand on his shoulder and gestures him to leave. After whispering that he should go wait in the car, Alice turns towards the wooden door. The Spaniard mumbles unhappily, but then shuffles off with his shoulders hanging.

A moment of silence follows and Alice wonders who will break it first.

"Oi. _Bastardo_?" Lovina finally grumbles from behind the wood planks and Alice smiles thankfully, calmly explaining how she sent the Spanish git to wait in the car.

Alice has to wait through another moment of silence, gladly giving the teen some time to collect herself.

"Alice?"

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **I seriously didn't want to write Amelia's POV at first. Seriously not. Simply because I didn't know how to do it… But then I got the idea for this scene and it was REAL great fun to write XD**

 **xxx**

 **I'm happy to see you guys are reading and following my story! ^/^**

 **Feedback always helps. So feel free to tell me what you think of the story :D -Criticism ALSO welcome! (I want to get better after all ;-) )And please DO tell me, if a character is OOC.**

 **I would be very glad**

 **xxx**

 **I'm currently looking for a beta reader.**

 **If you would be interested to beta read; or know someone who beta reads Hetalia ff's, please PM me :D**

 **THANKS!**

 **Himawari ^^**


	13. Why are you still here?

After the moment of surprise to find herself confronted with Alice rather than the Spanish git, the teenager was about to open the door and leave her tiny hideout. Only aboutto though…

Lovina was not pleased when she realised that her father asked someone else to help him search for her. Which would be Alice. Therefore, the adult could understand how it would actually count as pure logical reasoning for Lovina's anger to be directed towards the blonde instead. –Maybe. The Englishwoman figured there could be another way for the Mediterranean teen to react than explode once more: She might as well not say anything at all and keep herself locked in until starvation forces her to come out.

Unfortunately for Alice's ears, the latter did NOT happen… " _Mi prendi in giro?! Sei un fottuto idiota, bastardo!_ "

So here we are in the now. Alice standing in front of a tiny shed, at midnight, surrounded by tomato plants... Listening to a teenage girl curse her with swears she doesn't even understand. The blonde shakes her head and asks herself why she agreed to this again and adds it to the favours Carriedo owns her.

Though Alice also has to admit that she came here on her own accord, because she was kind of worried where the girl could have run off to. All the Spaniard's fault though.

Lost in her thoughts, Alice almost doesn't realise how the curses and swears slowly start to repeat themselves before they die down. Apparently Lovina either calmed down, or the girl is simply at the end of her vocabulary in each and every language known to her.

xxx

Lovina breathes heavily. The stinky air in the dirty shed makes her cough. What a fucking stupid idea to hide in there. It's tiny, dirty and dark. EXTREMELY dark. She didn't mind before, but realising where she is, it starts to creep her out. What if a fucking huge spider is sitting right above her head?! The girl curses herself for thinking about such things.

That fucking happy-go-lucky idiot isn't around to save her… Arsehole and no, we're ignoring the fact that this happened because she cursed him to go away and how she doesn't want to see him. No matter how big a monster might be waiting to crawl down her neck, Lovina DOES NOT want to leave the place either. Since that would mean she has to face the tomato _Bastardo_. However, she still hates spiders.

Thinking about the fucking idiot makes her realise how she actually can't think of any new curses anymore. The teenager feels like she screamed out each and every fucking swear she knows. So Lovina tries to focus her energy in calming her heavy breathing instead of searching for more things to verbally throw around as a sudden realization dawns at her.

Alice

Alice is standing outside.

Wishing she could kick the strong feeling of guilt away, which starts nagging at her, the grumpy teen has to admit that she messed up. BIG time. She just threw her whole repertoire of insults at the Englishwoman.

 _Vaffanculo_

If the stupid shed wasn't this fucking tiny, she would now be running in circles, trying to calm herself down.

But the fucking tiny shed is just too tiny.

Therefore her thoughts start running in circles in her brain instead and the teenager is about to crash her head against the wood, when she discovers a small crack in the door. Just big enough to peek outside, the brunette tries to find out whether or not the blonde woman fled from her swearing.

As she can't spot anything but green leaves, Lovina feels her heart drop. Alice?

Did she walk away? Did she leave her behind?

"Alice?"

The guilty girl askes and curses at her crumbling voice. She did NOT just sound completely desperate.

xxx

Antonio is walking up and down in front of the greenhouse. He finally found Lovina. But now she refuses to talk to him.

Taking another turn, he quickly stops to look through the glass like he already did many times that night. He sees Alice standing in front of the shack and tomato plants. But nothing happens.

The bundle of adrenaline walks the same way back once more until he reaches the opposite end of the building and turns one more time. It takes some time for the fact to settle: Lovina is save. His baby is save. Everything is all right. Nothing to worry about.

xxx

"Alice?" The Englishwoman supresses a smile at the desperate question grumbling its way out of one of the small cracks in the shed.

"Yes, Lovina?" She asks back and listens to the silence which follows once more. Glancing up through the glass ceiling to the stars while waiting, the Englishwoman starts naming the constellations. The northern star. The Cassiopeia. The Plough. The blonde smiles as she recalls the summer nights when she would allow the kids to stay up and teach them about the night sky.

"Why are you still here?" The weak voice draws her attention back to the earth and its grumpy inhabitant.

Asking why the girl would think she'd walk away, Alice takes a step towards the door and the cracks where she assumes Lovina is peaking through. "It's not like I'm not used to being shouted at by pissed off teenagers."

"… _si_ " the creaking sound when the door is opened isn't of any help when trying to understand what the teenager doesn't seem to want to put into words.

"Pardon me?"

" _Mi_ _Scusi_ …" Lovina apparently struggles with what the blonde woman figures is supposed to be an apology. Even in the dimmed lights, Alice finally understands why Carriedo would call her his little « _tomatita_ ».

The Englishwoman watches the obvious guilt showing on Lovina's face and realises just how cute the kid is. –Though not the same cute as Mattie; or, heck, as Amelia, but she is still cute. Super cute in her own way. –As cute as that bloody git's daughter could be that is.

When Alice realises the girl is expecting her to say something though, the blonde finds herself at a loss of words. By all pixies and fairies! If it involves talking to real-life human, Alice is the wrong bloody person to ask what to say in situations like these.

She tries to hide the fact that she is nervously glancing around by fixing the position of her glasses on the bridge of her nose when she remembers this very specific detail about the girl. Knowing how any soothing words wouldn't be the right thing to say to the cute girl hiding behind a well-trained grumpy pout, Alice decides that asking whether Lovina is hungry feels like the right thing to do.

Lovina's eyes immediately fix the tomato plants behind the Englishwoman and the stare is supported by a grumbling sound coming from her stomach. "You did NOT just hear that." The blushing girl turns away to hide her face and misses Alice's relieved sigh.

xxx

Listening to his father happily talking about this new co-worker who caught his attention, Matthew chews the delicious _pot-au-feu_ and tries to think of a good excuse to escape.

" _Tu m'excuse, Papa. Je dois aller au toilette_." Matthew fibs and trots off. Lying is not the nice way to do it; but the boy can't think of any other plan than to excuse himself and go to the bathroom. Hiding behind the door to wait and hope his _Papa_ will forget what he was talking about so they can finish their meal in comfortable silence; or at least not talking about romance-related things; has always been an easy way to subtly change subjects.

When the boy hears a rustling sound in the supposeddly empty room however, he almost jumps backwards. Which he actually does; including hitting his head on the closed door; when a familiar blonde bob suddenly pops out from behind the shower curtain.

"Sis?! _Mon Dieu_!" Matthew tries to collect himself and calm his racing heart from the shock. "I hope the reason I just almost died of a heart attack is because you have a GOOD idea how to save me from dad's latest womanizer-attempt stories."

Instead of being greeted however, the girl just lifts her hand for a fist-bump and mumbles: "Code «Tea and scones», Mattie. It's disastrous."

The teenager sighs a: "I have no clue what you're talking about" and adds that if it includes stalking their mum, he declines. They fist-bump and Matthew wonders what the heck his sister is doing in the bathroom.

Striking a weird pose, the girl quickly explains how; because her dorky baby-brother STILL doesn't have a phone, she needs to contact him the old fashioned way. So she would OF COURSE have to enter the house like a spy would. Therefore, it's the most logical (Logical? Dorky cute Amelia?) plan to enter her father's house through the always-open bathroom window on the second floor to contact him.

"How did you even get up here…" Matthew grumbles to himself about his super-human sister who doesn't seem to realize the oddity of her action.

Regarding her own reflection in the mirror instead and starting to fix her star-shaped clips, Amelia seems to remember the reason she came here. "Mattie! It's horrible! A real emergency!" Spinning around with a voice, which almost sounds desperate, she starts her hardly-understandable super-agent report.

Half-heartedly listening when she starts to repeat herself over and over again, the boy begins to play with the toilet paper rolls. While trying to figure out how many rolls he can stack on their round side to build a tower that doesn't come crashing down, Matthew figures his sister is overreacting once more. "In short, you saw mum talking with some guy and they went to go buy some plants?"

Amelia throws her hands in the air and makes Mattie's creation come crashing down. "AT MIDNIGHT, dude! And definitively NOT buying some shitty plants!" The teenage boy sighs and starts building once more.

"I see…" The tower crumbles yet again and the strawberry blonde shrugs at his loss.

Amelia however seems content someone listened to her story and poses in front of the shower curtain, dashing a smile at her brother. " _So long, lil' bro!_ It's time for the Hero to leave; or our plan will be discovered by the enemy!" The girl hums theatrically and Matthew watches his sister disappear through the window, waving an "–I'm sure Dad will think your digestion is going crazy if you hide away in the bathroom for such a long time!"

Waving a good bye, Matthew almost forgets about his gentle hearted nature. Unless his _vis-à-vis_ is holding a hockey stick and their encounter is on the ice, he really couldn't harm anyone. However, at that very moment he wishes his sister would just fall the two floors down. Then again, the adorkable girl would most likely even survive something like that.

Before Matthew can turn for the door however, her head appears in the frame once more. "Mattie! I EXPECT you to help me out with getting my revenge tomorrow!" Then she exclaims that she won't allow any excuses or she will take his teddy bear hostage.

"Spare me…" Knowing that whatever her plan is, he will most likely not want to be a part of it. Matthew unlocks the bathroom with his head hanging. Oh how he wishes he could just FINALLY stand up against her!

The two kid's father calls to ask if his son is all right. When the teenage boy returns from the washroom, the grin on his _Papa's_ face states that the man never thought the reason for Matthew's absence was due to dysfunctional digestion. Rolling his eyes at the wolf whistle, Matthew decides to spend the rest of the evening in front of the television ignoring the Frenchman AND the bathroom on the second floor.

xxx

Antonio turns once more and gazes through the glass, only to realise that the two figures disappeared. His heart starts racing in panic and he is about to rush towards the door to look for her when he realises the women are approaching him from inside and he feels his mind relax. Lovina is munching a freshly plucked tomato and Alice tries to get the teenager's messed up hair back into order.

The relaxed looking scene finally manages to calm him down once more. Everything is all right. Nothing to worry about.

Then he notices the look on Lovina's face when she sees him and he has to reword his thoughts: There's still a bunch of memories to worry about which he would rather not have to remember nor share with his little girl! If he could only let her live in her little world without any care. But it appears she won't let him. Sooner or later, Lovina will make sure he has to tell her.

Sadly, this is only the calm before the storm.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **In case you're wondering what Lovina is grumbling about in Italian; if I don't write any more details about it, it's just swearing…**

 **xxx**

 **Btw: Because it's Amelia & Mattie, they use the term «second floor»; as in American English. The British version would be «first floor». I actually had to google which is which :'D Curse of a non-Native **

**It's not that Mattie isn't interested. He just knows his sister too well and decided he might as well start building something while listening to her repeating herself.**

 **And yeah… Don't harbour to high expectations for the amazing «totally-thought-through» plan :'D But it'll be fun.**

 **xxx**

 **Thanks to TheSilentLilac for Beta reading! :D**


	14. A piece of advice

Sending her father a warning glare, Lovina heads towards the car waiting outside. When she sees the teenager sink on the black passenger's seat, Alice sighs relieved and turns to look at Carriedo. The brown haired man stares at his daughter with an expression of clear unhappiness. "You know you'll have to tell her eventually." Though Alice is reluctant to speak out the words she thought would only be like rubbing salt in his wounds, the blonde realises his expression changing to a dashing smile when he turns towards her.

Carriedo thanks her for her help searching Lovina in this very typical outgoing way of his, making Alice wonder whether he's really such a good actor or if his emotions just change every second. Anyone ever try to understand a person simply following their feelings… Lost in thoughts, the split second his eyes narrow almost escape her, letting her know that, even while smiling widely, he doesn't want to share his actual thoughts with the Englishwoman. Or he just doesn't want to brood over his problem, deciding that it involves too much thinking about complicated things.

"Some piece of advice…" Alice mutters and also starts walking towards the car. "Better tell her and watch your family break apart, knowing you tried your best…" and grumbles the last part: "… than refusing to and watch your family crumble because you didn't."

She must apparently have flipped a switch inside of him as an outstretched arm blocks her way. The Englishwoman's eyes trace along the green sleeve to his face. Irritated eyes narrowed and brows frowned, the blonde recognizes his other personality from their argumentative collisions in the past breaking free from behind his stupid grin. "One's always faster to give advice than to take them, _Querida_."

Shaving the arm aside, Alice states how she just wanted to give the little advice she failed to follow.

Then she turns to open a door behind Lovina and joins the girl in the car. The teenager throws the green tomato stem out of the window and licks the last drops of juice off her fingers before she asks what they were talking about.

Alice states that she supports the girl's request to know about her mother but Lovina's answer is interrupted by the annoying git opening the door and sliding in the driver's seat with a happy grin displayed on his tanned face.

"Let's head for Feli's!" He hums and starts the car, all back in his usual happy-clappy mood. "Don't want her to keep crying her eyes out over your disappearance any longer." Lovina grumbles some Latin, causing Carriedo to laugh happily and call her his little _tomatita_.

After listening to their lovey-dovey bickering for some time without really understanding a lot, Alice tries to find the right moment to request something. When Lovina finally turns to glare out of the window with deeply flushed cheeks, the Englishwoman can take a turn: "Mind if you bring me back before you go to the Edelstein's?"

"You know Feliciana?" Lovina tries to twist around and look at the blonde sitting in the backseat.

Alice frowns and grumbles she just met her today. "I know her parents though…" And she'd rather not cross paths with them. Especially not with Liz. Ignoring the Spaniard's suppressed chuckle, Alice is glad when the wanker agrees on taking her home first.

xxx

Lovina glares out of the window at the trees and buildings flying by, barely visible through the blinding streetlights. Before they dropped Alice off, all the teenager could learn from the suddenly quiet Englishwoman was that she knew Feli's mum during primary. And about how they met again at the hospital when Alice went for some check-ups during her pregnancy with Amelia.

Shifting her focus from the scenery flying past them, Lovina watches her father's reflection calmly staring at the street. The weird reaction of his when he learned about the two pregnant women being at the hospital around the same time was rather out of character for him.

Her mother should have been there at around the same time too.

Before Lovina can think of a question to press for further information however, they reach the familiar surroundings of her friend's fancy neighbourhood. The snobby place with the stucco decorations on walls and corners is worlds apart from the simple houses around Lovina's place. Even their newly renovated fence looks stupid compared to the gate automatically opening up in front of the old car after Antonio rings the bell.

Fucking loaded musicians.

The mansion's front door swings open before the bastard can even stop the car and a wreck of a girl comes running towards the little family. Lovina shrieks and locks the door. –Which is perfectly reasonable because, well, she IS a girl, so it's ok to shriek like one and, no kidding, Feliciana really looks horrible.

"Veee~ Lovi, open the door!"

"Fucking no! I don't want your snot all over my clothes!" The teenager stutters, but her idiot father just leans over the ranting girl and unlocks the door for Feliciana to storm past it and strangle the brunette. Grasping for air and not knowing what to do with her hands, Lovina tries her best to continue and curse her father while the figure appearing behind her frien… classmate drily explains how clothes can easily be washed.

"See? Exactly my words!" Antonio happily claps his hands together and nods at Feliciana's dad. "A hug form a dear friend should be worth so much more than clothes, Lovi!" Shitheads. Teaming up against her!

It's not like Lovina barely escaped death or some shit… So why sacrifice her branded shirt? Glancing down at the piece of cloth –Not the girl clinging to her as if Feli fears Lovina would disappear if she let go- Lovina feels her heart clench. She really looks bad, shaking and sniffling at her chest.

" _Va tutto bene, piccolina. Eccomi qua."_ Lovina pads Feliciana's head, assuring the auburn haired girl that she's back and everything is ok. Her arms wrap around the small body. -But only to make sure the snot and tears won't come to close to her brand shirt, not because seeing the girl cry breaks her heart.

xxx

With a heavy sigh, Alice leans back on the kitchen cupboard, staring out of the window once more. Trying to figure what just happened, the blonde recalls the night's events.

Though she doesn't want to accept the thought, Alice knows she envied Carriedo when he stood in front of that small door with his daughter right behind it. Yes, Lovina did refuse to talk to him. And yes, the teenager screamed at Alice for at least ten minutes before coming out. But compared to the divorced woman's own cursed family situation, a fucking closed door seem like nothing.

Would Amelia have decided to hide behind a bloody door instead of running away, hunger would have forced the teenager back out after some time. But Amelia is not the type of person to throw a fit the same way Lovina does. Plus because her own fucking pride wouldn't allow her to let it slide, Alice missed the moment when their fights could have still been solved by simple means.

Now, after all their disputes and the hateful things they threw at each other over months, the Englishwoman knows the mere presence of her daughter could make her get angry. Pushes her down into a pit of despair at the same time as her mouth starts spiting curses at her own child.

Stupid conflicted feelings. No logic behind this shit.

Even after everything that happened, Amelia is, and will always be her baby. Her cute, adorable angel. -The angel who flew off to who knows where, leaving her standing at the damned kitchen window every evening, some part of her heart still hoping the girl will come back to her. Packages of fucking crisps stuffed in the cupboards as if the blonde teen would turn up to clean them out.

However, at the same time another part of Alice keeps screaming with displeasure about everything the noisy teenager does, feeling like the girl never gives a shit or would even try to think about her mother's feelings before doing something. Even though Alice knows better than to believe her own negative thoughts, she finds herself with colourful curses on the tip of her tongue whenever she thinks of Amelia.

No wonder the girl ran off.

"«Some piece of advice», bloody hell." The Englishwoman grumbles as she tears her gaze from the dark, empty street. It's not like anyone would come walking down anyways. Fucking talking didn't help in her case. If anything, it only made everything worse.

Alice hopes it would be different in Carriedo's case. Seeing how Lovina does indeed want to talk, the Englishwoman would love to beat some sense in this fucking Spaniard's empty head and break his jaw if that would be what it takes to make him speak!

xxx

Finally able to return back to her headquarters, Amelia spies around the corner to check no one followed her nor discovered her hideout. When she made sure her surroundings are clear, the curly haired blonde unlocks her super difficult security system and slides inside the dead black room which greets her with deserted silence when she switches the lights on. To fight the quietness, the teenager fondles for her I-pod to turn the volume up.

Listening to the latest chart hits, it's time to return to the core issue. Remembering how the South European girl escaped her well-planed interrogation over an ice cream the last time, the undercover pro has to make sure to succeed THIS time.

Slamming the door shut behind her, Amelia folds her arms and puffs her cheeks, glaring at the empty room as if her brother was sitting on the couch. Really now. How could Mattie react that calmly when she reported to him?! The mafia girl's father was making out with her mum! This is no time for jokes any longer. This calls for drastic measures.

Amelia feels like Hollywood just invaded her daily life, which would be awesome, if it weren't her own mother's love comedy; a very creepy thought to begin with anyways. And with the worst plot ever: Life fucked with her parent's happy ever after and the very stereotypical love rival turning up from who knows where. How much longer will Amelia have to wait for the happy end?! Stupid reality never sticking to the time limit of 120 minutes playing time.

Angrily slumping down at the improvised couch, the girl fumbles for her phone. At least someone seems to care.

Codename Nyan-cat left about three messages. The others didn't reply yet. Unhappily pouting over being ignored, the secret agent listens to her partner's plans and happily rubs her hands together. Though she doesn't really get half of what the black haired boy is talking about, Amelia is content with his ideas. Thank karma he's some kind of script writer and skilled enough to keep up with Hollywood plots!

Amelia will start to put the plan into motion the very next day. Stage ready for the first scene of the Hero coming to save the day, shining bright in the spotlight!

A buzzing sound almost makes the girl jump off the couch. Her partner in crime sent another text. Blue eyes flying over the letters, Amelia's grin widens. Change of plans. No Hero appearing in the spotlight tomorrow. She will be working in the shadows as an undercover agent with the goal to fool the movie's audience! Awesome!

Because it's all about the plan behind the plan. –Which was Kiku's idea duh, but who cares. No questions about who came up with the idea of using the mafia kid to lurk the villain parent out, but about who succeeded in making it happen. –Which will be HER.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **It took me ages to write the USUK part. Hope, it helped you understand the mess they're stuck in a bit better…**

 **Alice should stop thinking and just go do something. Anything! –Almost same goes for Amelia: Stop doing and start thinking...**

 **xxx**

 **Thank your really much for your feedbacks once more!**

 **They help me try to put some things into words. It makes sense to me, but is sometimes hard to write so you guys can see it too. So «** _ **MESSI VILL MOL!*»**_ **once more.**

*that's «thank you very much» in my dialect ;)

 **xxx**

 **The "who's pissed at who":**

 **USUK fought and there's still a lot of bad blood between them. Neither wants to give in and admit their faults. Amelia appears like an** **arsehole** **, but Alice's not any better. It's just that the latter knows she also lost something precious because of their fight.**

 **Amelia is unhappy with her parent's divorce and, because nothing seems to happen between the two adults, she starts to put the blame on Antonio. Or rather at Lovi, because he's nowhere near. (Her calling Lovi «mafia bitch» is way below the belt though)**

 **Lovi is pissed at her father which makes her pissed at everyone else because he doesn't really take her complaints to heart. Lovi is also pissed at Amelia who has everything she doesn't. Which kind of makes Lovi project her whole bad mood at Amelia. AND word it in a way which makes Amelia sound like the idiot and Alice like a saint. (So please don't take Lovi's words about Amelia to heart.)**

 **Mattie is unhappy with the whole situation going on around him and distances himself. (Yes, he's also a teenager… And he will eventually also throw at least one tantrum…)**

 **-So much for the teenagers**

 **PLEASE NOTE: these are all the personal POV of the characters.**

 **I'll get more into the relationships between the characters. They will all get their–kind off- happy endings. :) Some of them will take some time to happen though.**

 **xxx**

 **Proof red this while watching the royal wedding (trying to) :'D Aww.**

 **The preacher was amazing! Not the traditional kind of guy you would expect, but just amazing!**

 **xxx**

 **End of this monster of an A/N ;) Have a nice week!**

 **-Himawari**


	15. Whoops, SO sorry

**A/N**

 **Ok guys, just to be said. There's a reason why Kiku is doing this.**

 **xxx**

Last night was a long night. And she didn't really get a lot of sleep when they finally arrived back home either. Fucking _Bastardo_. This isn't over yet! First, a siesta… that would be nice.

Yawning openly, Lovina rubs her eyes and blinks out of the window when the back of a book hits her head. "No dozing off!" The teacher presses and immediately commands the tired teenager to the black board to demonstrate something she has no clue about. Curiously looking at the drawing, Lovina just shrugs her shoulders and states that she didn't listen.

As a "Detention" resounds through the room accompanied by some snickering laughter, the brunette decides that she might as well sleep some more in school and avoid meeting the Spanish _Bastardo_. A welcome way to punish her idiot guardian for what he dared pull the last evening.

The lesson passes slowly but the teenager shows no motivation to follow anything the delinquent teacher tries to teach her. Simply ignoring his killer stares, Lovina's imagination drifts off to think about what he was like when Alice and the red haired man were younger. No matter how she looks at the severe teacher, it's really difficult to imagine him as a caring older brother. –Which he most likely wasn't. "Poor Alice…" The teenager grumbles from the depths of her hearts and concludes that they both are cursed with bothersome family-ties.

When lessons finally finish and the brunette passes the red haired man, she just grumbles when he blocks her way to remind her "Detention after lessons." The girl rolls her eyes and nods. But first, break time! Finally escaping the scary man, Lovina makes a beeline towards the cafeteria. She needs coffee. _Espresso Doppio_. Or something stronger.

"Gyaaa!" A girly scream makes the brunette halt in her movement and rush around the corner where she finds Feliciana kneeling on the floor. "Vee~ Lovi~" The auburn haired blinks up with tears in her eyes.

" _Idiota_." Lovina rushes to the brown-eyed girl and angrily glares at her. Did she trip again?

Feliciana strongly shakes her head. "No. Someone bumped into me."

"You mean YOU bumped into someone…" The brown haired girl sighs and starts collecting her friend's books scattered on the floor.

"No, no, no! It wasn't me! Not this time!" Feliciana insists, strongly shaking her head.

Surrendering to the tear filled eyes, Lovina sighs and grumbles a " _Sì_ , I get it. Don't cry…" Lovina pats her head and decides that helping to collect the books scattered all over the floor would be the easiest way to calm her friend down. Quickly stacking the hard covers, the brunette pulls her hand back when a cowboy boot kicks one of the last books to slide over the floor. Lovina's head angrily darts upwards. "Oi!"

"Whoops. SOOO sorry." Amelia towers over her and looks at both girls sitting on the floor chirping just a bit too innocently, about how she didn't see them sitting there. Lovina grumbles and spits her thanks for the ironical apologize towards the blonde haired girl. Amelia's eye twitches angrily before her focus shifts to Feliciana who is greeted with a bright million-watt smile. "Jo Feli! What've you been up to lately?!" Lovina angrily frowns at her friend's dorky smile and gets back up on her feet to collect the book from the other end of the hallway when she almost collides with a boy popping out of nowhere. She curses, wondering where the heck the tall guy just appeared from.

"Sorry, eh?" He whispers and hands the hard cover to Lovina. Without really giving him her thanks, the girl the girl takes the book, heads back towards the She-Bastard laughing loudly to whatever Feliciana just told her.

"Crazy shit! So, you know my mum?" The blonde girl stands up and swings an arm around Lovina's shoulders, which is immediately shoved away. "Poor girl, I tell you. Don't let her influence you too much! The old hag's got a habit of trying to motivate people to follow her freaking stiff ideals. Like, trying to get you to like the weird stuff she likes."

"Kinda reminds me of someone." Glaring at the blonde girl's hand sneaking around her arm, the brunette doesn't really know how to respond to the suddenly touchy-feely girl. The She-Bastard doesn't even know her! So why the sudden attachment?! "And I don't really need your advice or any of that shit." With a quick movement, the girl releases her arm from the unwanted grip. Heading towards Feliciana to pull her away from the annoying girl doesn't really work, because the blonde is faster. Dragging Feliciana away from Lovina, Amelia continues chatting with the auburn haired and leads her towards the cafeteria. Then she turns to invite Lovina and some guy called Mattie to join the two for a snack. Fucking hell, she won't join them!

Then again, she can't really leave her defenceless friend in Amelia's bad company. And, coffee. _Espresso Doppio_ , or something at least as strong. –Maybe she should join after all.

xxx

Amelia grins. And Matthew doesn't like it.

Her arm comfortably placed on the girl's shoulders, his sister happily ignores the other girl's killer glares and continues leading the group through the hallways. Whoever happens to meet eyes with the cheerful girl is greeted. Without distinguishing between people she knows and people she's not talked to before, Amelia has smiles and small talk to share with everyone. The girl with the lighter brown hair joins in, much to the dislike of the darker haired third wheel.

What was her name again? Felicia refers to her as «Lovi», but that couldn't be her name, could it? Wondering which of the two girls it was they saw at the mall, Matthew doesn't really pay attention to what is happening and is rather startled when he suddenly faces three pairs of eyes looking at him. Halting in his movement, he focuses on Amelia's blue ones wondering what is going on.

"You guys need to meet my brother! Dude, what're you daydreaming about over there! Come 'ere Mattie!" The girl waves with her free hand and introduces him to the two girls whether they want it or not. Feliciana smiles happily and immediately starts asking him hundreds of questions at a speed rivalling his sister's until the other girl –Lovina pulls her hair to remind the younger girl to stop it. "They're sisters!" Amelia beams. The boy chuckles when both girls deny; either in their typical way. Grumpy growls about them not being related, Happy shakes her head and smiles when explaining they were friends since kindergarten.

He didn't really get it when his sister tried to visualize her oh-so-amazing plan to him by using Disney figurines to explain the «who does what». –At least the cast makes sense now. He can see the resemblances with Grumpy and Happy. Amelia used Dopey as stand in for herself, which seems off, but is still cute. Then again, why would she use Sneezy for Matthew?

"So, _Matteo_. How old are you?" Feli…ciana continues her interrogation. The junior answers and the next questions follow about his favourite foods, hobbies, friends, if he's ever been to Italy and so on. Somewhat struggling with the list of things the curious girl wants to know about; the boy finds it challenging to answer all of them that quickly but is somewhat glad to be included in the group.

Only when Amelia changes from clinging to Feli…ci… -Feli. To cling to… to Lovi is when Matthew realizes he actually let himself be dragged along, just as Amelia had planned. Without him even knowing, he started to act his role and distract Happy so Dopey can approach Grumpy. The darker haired brunette doesn't really seem happy when the boy's sister lashes onto her once more and starts her very own interrogation.

"How did you even meet my mum?" The blonde exchanges an obvious «told you so» look with her brother when Lovi explains how her bastard father forced Alice to babysit her. "So, your dad's doing, huh? He's kinda like our dad's BFF, you know?" The girl frowns and nods. Not content with the little information she gained, Amelia continues to ask and approach the core issue. "So… What's he like as a dad? How 'bout your mum?" An elbow in his hips ensures Matthew doesn't miss the girl's awkward silence before she gives in to Amelia's expectant blue eyes and admits she doesn't know her mum.

When they reach the self-service area, Feli learns that the first year speaks French. She is almost radiating when she realises the possibility he might actually understand some Italian. Her excitement over the fact saves Lovi form the Q&A game as she interrupts the rather one-sided conversation to bubble on about having found someone more who they could talk to.

His sister however seems to see the pause as the perfect opportunity to share her impressions. "You hear that?!" She tries to whisper and strongly points over to the two girls. "Grumpy's dad is single!"

Rolling his eyes, Matthew tries to decide between a marshmallow muffin and a chocolate donut. So what if he's single? Doesn't mean he will immediately jump their mum. "He's Dad's best friend. Like Gil. –Or could you imagine Gilbert making a move on Mum?"

Looking at her brother in horror, the girl points with her finger towards her opened mouth and mimes chucking something up. The whole show complemented with a lovely sound, Matthew puts the tongs back and decides he'd rather skip his sweets. Amelia grabs them for herself and tries to snath both, the muffin and the donut in one go. "Nah. He's reserved for you. –Only you could probably fall for his not-existent talent for courting. But mum? Nah."

"Courting?" Chuckling at the old-fashioned word stealing itself in his sister's sentence, the boy tries hard to keep the annoyed look he's trying to give Amelia. "And Gil's got a girlfriend!"

"Which no-one ever saw nor met, Mattie." The blonde corrects him and changes back to the main topic. "Anyways. We've got some serious trouble there, Mattie." She pulls a dwarf figure out of her pocket and presses it into her brother's palm. Recognizing Grumpy, the boy isn't surprised when she pulls another figurine of the Evil Queen out to put in his other hand. "Grumpy here might be with Snow White's dwarfs; her friend and all that shit." She points at the Queen. "But this connects Mum and the two face. –Remember this one time Toni was drunk AND in a bad mood?"

Matthew nods and tries to block the image popping up in his brain. "Yeah. Just after he learned our parents are getting divorced." The person back then was not the grinning Spaniard he knew. This was more like a madman taking over Antonio's body.

Amelia nods in agreement and is uncharacteristically quiet for the long duration of three seconds before she continues her analysis. "So 'cause we don't know his real motives, we can't have him get to close to Snow White." The girl repeats what she told him just that morning and is about to conclude something about why Grumpy influences the connection of Snow White and the Evil Queen, when a curious Feli approaches the siblings.

Happily clapping her hands together when she sees grumpy, the girl vee's when the blonde boy hands the dwarf to her and she starts sharing stories how she would try to draw them when she was a kid. She really liked Snow White and the seven dwarfs. But Pinocchio was her favourite.

Distracted with talking about childhood memories, comic characters and drawings, Matthew doesn't realise phase two of the plan is about to start. At first, even Amelia slowly walking through the section with beverages to go grab a coke doesn't catch his attention. When he finally remembers the part after ensuring Lovi tags along because Feli was dragged away by them and the interrogation-thing, it's already to late:

The teenager sees his sister approaching the girl standing in front of the coffee machine and the blonde junior «trips». "Don't!" But she does it anyways. This very typical bad-acting kind of trip.

This can't be happening. Matthew closes his ears to block out the loud, surprised scream when the cold coke splashes all over the dark haired girl's clothes.

What a splendid mess his sister just caused…

xxx

"Oh my Gosh, I am SO sorry!" Amelia shrieks and enjoys acting her role. Her words are true, but she really has to supress the urge to laugh loudly at the girl's shocked face. Who would've thought the always-grumpy brunette is actually able to show many different expressions within a short time!

But she wouldn't be a Hero if she didn't know how to help! Amelia quickly grabs some napkins to pat the shirt dry and takes her jacket off to place it around Lovi's shoulders. "Fuck off!" The girl shoves her helping hands away. Blinking at the glaring girl in surprise, the blonde tries to figure if she did something wrong.

She followed the script, didn't she? She tripped by «accident» and apologized. Helped her clean the mess and even offered her jacket. HER JACKET! THE latest thing! Yet, the girl doesn't even accept any of it.

Cursing loudly, the brunette stomps off, dragging Feli behind her. "Good job there." Mattie appears next to her and claps. "Congratulation on messing up. Told you it wouldn't be a good idea."

Puffing her cheeks, the blonde girl complains. "This wasn't how it was supposed to turn out!" After all, the girl in distress should have just let herself be saved! Who would ever refuse Amelia's help? The blonde quickly fondles for her phone and types Kiku's number.

She turns her head when she hears some Vocaloid voice start singing somewhere near them and spots her dear friend waving at them from a seat close to where the siblings are standing. The boy excuses himself from his companions with a polite bow before he heads over to calm Amelia's disturbed spirits. "America-san, I saw what happened. I'm sorry my plan didn't work." The girl desperately shakes her head. It was not Kiku's fault. Because his plan was amazing. But…

"It might still work somehow." She grumbles to herself and lifts her head to grin at him. "What if we go for plan B of «Code Tomato Tea»?" Feeling the excitement about their schemes rice again, her dead spirits come back to life when she imagines putting the plan into action. "Mattie~ Lend me your ear for a sec, 'key?" The girl grabs is sleeve to pull the tall teenager closer.

"Why're you dragging me into this, eh?" Matthew complains, though his sister would rather call it pout because they didn't let him in on their amazing plan B up to now. Even so, the boy nods in agreement when she asks him whether he got what they asked him to buy. "But you never said you needed them for «Code Tomato Tea»." The boy frowns but Amelia doesn't really listen to him, already pre-occupied with preparing the next phase.

Rubbing her hands together, Amelia fondles for her phone in the depths of her pocket to call another partner in crime. "Codename Reborn Avenger here. Codename IT, are you ready? Yeah? Cool! We're all set here. Codename PolarBear brought the material. It's ready to be installed."

"Installed?! Sis! What…?"

Finishing the call after a hushed answer, the girl feels an annoyed first year poke her shoulder. Her little brother stares at the blonde with narrowed eyes, inquiring why she seems to have so much fun doing this. Answering with a loud, resounding laughter, the girl ruffles Mattie's curly strawberry hair and ignores his attempt to slap her hand away. "Don't kill me with your looks, broski! It's just some little pranks!"

But the boy doesn't seem so pleased. Pouting again, he scream-whispers his displeasure. "Sis, seriously! Fifty percent of this stupid action is you being pissed at mum. And the rest is just you messing around and wanting to play pranks!" He glares at her. –Tries to. Aww, so cute. "I get it if you're in battle mode when it comes to _Maman_. But this has got nothing to do with Felitalia and… Err… The other one."

Swinging her arm around the little dork, Amelia kind of has to admit that she's indeed having fun. And that she knows she's kind of being ashole as well. But then again, it's not like she's doing anything really bad. AND… sharing a knowing grin with Kiku, both know this is all important steps to take for a bigger purpose: They need to drag the Spaniard in the spotlight and figure out his motives!

"Kiku, you go and disturb Feli until Eduard finishes the preparations."

xxx

What the fuck is wrong today?! Feliciana getting knocked over by Amelia; the gil's coke splashed all over Lovina's new shirt… And that cursed She-Bastard acting all clingy and best friends. Fucking shit, NO!

Trying to hide behind a pillar, Lovina glares at each questioning look the passing students give her ruined outfit. Just what the heck is taking Feliciana so long? Can't really take so much time to go grab a fucking change of clothes from her locker! She doesn't like Feli's stoic father, but curse it; his insisting on his daughter to keep a spare outfit saved Lovina few times already. Because one couldn't really expect the fashion-aware girl to walk around looking like THIS!

"Loviiiinaaa!" A crying Feliciana comes running her way. Instead of carrying a bundle of clothes in her arms, the auburn haired girl returns stammering about how someone smeared her locker and she can't open it because the lock is patched with chewing gum.

Therefore Lovina, still dripping with coke, grumbles and decides to search her own locker for some gym clothes. The girl curses because it's just so fucking hard to get your key out of your pocket when they're fucking soaked. Feliciana sniffling and sticking close to her makes it even harder to move. After fighting with the metal stuck between two layers of wet cloth, the brunette teenager finally manages to pull the damned thing out and put it in the key hole.

"At least won that one." She grumbles, ready to grab her emergency outfit. Though she is very unhappy to wear the unfashionable piece, she has to agree it's still better than to walk around dripping with coke from head to toe.

The key clicks and she pulls the door towards them when suddenly something jump at her, leaving the two girls screaming at a frequency that could break glass.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Writer's block, I HAAATE YOU!**

 **Especially if you cause me to re-write a chapter over and over again, only to delete the whole thing in the end and make a completely new chapter because the old one is still to OOC. And it's important for the progress of the story. I needed to make sure I don't have to change or bend the storyline D': Aargh!**

 **I didn't really manage to proof read and check this chapter as much as I normally do… Simply because I didn't know what to do about the writer's block and only changed the chapter today. :( Sorry, if it's a bit odd or badly edited.**

 **And I still don't know about this chapter. I started writing it ages ago! Even so, I'm still not content with it. But it's just kind of important for the progress of the story… So please stick with me for a little while longer. I'm trying to build up some tension for the major escalation. ^^' (Or rather; one of them.)**

 **Feel free to feedback what you think about it ;)**

 **xxx**

 **If I could, I would side with Mattie.**

 **But I also know everybody else's motives… And they're important!**


	16. I knew it wouldn't work out

Spiders!

Fucking tiny spiders jumping at them from inside the locker.

Tiny little monsters crowding over the two girls, crawling up their skin, slipping under their clothes, ready to…

" _Mitä on tapahtunut?_ " A small silhouette finally appears to save the two hysterically squeaking high schoolers. "What happened?" The librarian takes a closer look to inspect the situation and blinks at the rubber imitates. " _Hämähäkkejä?_ " Gently laughing, he brushes some spiders off the girls' shoulders. "Don't worry, they're fake." Then the cute man puts a calming hand on the brunette's shoulder.

"Just you wait! Whoever dared pull this fucking joke?!" Finally somewhat able to calm herself from the shock, Lovina feeds her adrenaline to her aggression towards whoever came up with the fucking joke. She whirls around to glare at everyone standing close by as if the villain could still be somewhere near.

"You shouldn't curse like that." The blonde man smiles and hands her the jumper from inside her messy locker. When he asks whether they'll be ok, the two girls nod. Then he leaves, both teenagers staring after him with slightly blushed cheeks.

"Vee~ it's such a shame he's married…" And the amber haired receives a slap at the back of her head.

"Fucking stop it with the elder guys! PLUS! A teacher?!"

"He's librarian."

"Oh, come ON!" While struggling over whether age difference matters or not, the two bickering (ok, it's just Lovina complaining about Feliciana's reasoning pro elder guys) don't realize another blonde approaching.

xxx

"NO!" spying from behind a corner, Amelia just has to exclaim her disappointment even without anyone listening. This was supposed to be HER part! Why did the librarian have to turn up and mess with her plans?! "Kiku!" The blonde glares at the Asian walking towards her together with an angry looking Mattie. "Wasn't it your job to distract Feli 'til I'm there?!" Pouting about losing her chance to play the hero and follow the plan, Amelia watches the two girls gape after the blonde Finn. Fun spoiler!

"Fun spoiler?!" her brother's hand starts pulling on one of her waves. "You've got to be kidding me! That mess over there is your doing, isn't it?!" Turning to look between the scene on the hallway and his sister as if demanding an explanation, Matthew does something he hardly does. He curses. Loudly. " _Zut alors_! My sister is turning into a bully with the competence of a first grader! "

Listening to the boy rant makes the blonde girl almost forget the reason she came here. What's the matter with her baby brother? After all, it takes a lot to piss Mattie off. That's not his usual self, and Amelia doesn't like to see him like this. Especially not, if it's all just because of some sort of misunderstanding! Because, it's not really bullying. He just doesn't see the plan behind…

Her brother's signature quiet voice raises ever so slightly as he angrily snaps at her: "I don't care about the stupid «plan behind the plan» and whether or not you try to get closer to… Lovinea or not! It's still a fact that you're going overboard!"

The blonde senior blinks irritated at the younger boy's fuming expression and places her hand on his forehead. "Is it the side effects of global warming, or what happened to your usually chilly mood?" she teases, trying to lift his mood. Locking her eyes with his purplish ones, the thought he might actually be serious about this pops up when she meets his glare. "Looks like I can't really do anything against you being pissed. But let me…" She can explain it! It's really not a bad thing they're doing and…

"Just. Stop it." Matthew grabs her hand she just held up to point at the two girls trying to clarify her goals and strongly pulls it towards him so Amelia has to face him again. Which she'd rather not, seeing his angry frown deepen and hearing his voice grow louder with every word he throws at her. Wincing at the fact her brother is mad at her, the girl does her best do figure out where he's coming from. She doesn't want Mattie to be angry with her. "This is NOT about any of these girls. So leave them alone. I'm tired of getting dragged around because you're still pissed at mum and don't want to face her. Just go and talk to her!" His voice having reached a volume loud enough to be heard all through the hallway, it's not surprising the two girls at the locker turn their heads.

"Mattie!" Amelia barely registers the curses coming from the other way when she tries to grab her brother's hand to stop him from walking away. Refusing to let her do so, he pulls his arm away and glares back, shouting that he's had enough of her games.

"You know, I have to agree with him." Kiku's calm voice doesn't even really reach her; and his words are most certainly not what she wants to hear right now. All she wants to do is run after her baby brother and hug the pouting polar bear. However, a certain angry brunette stomping towards the two blocks her way at the same time as a quiet black haired holds her back. Admitting defeat and deciding to talk to Mattie later, the blonde girl turns to glare at her friend.

"So you're siding with him now?!" Isn't it already bad enough to have one of her closest friends being mad at her?

The small Asian slowly shakes his head. "I don't side with him, _Ameria_ - _san_. But I agree that you should go see your mother and talk to her." Talking back to him; or even think about his words has to wait for another time, as an angry Lovina exposes her to be the ashole behind the small pranks.

xxx

"WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT IS WRONG WITH YOUR BRAIN?!" Lovina explodes and she accusingly points at the Halloween decorations still sticking to her soaked, brown sprinkled clothes.

The all-American girl greets her with an absent-minded glance. As if she doesn't even give a shit about what she did.

"This is your fucking doing, isn't it?! And you ruined my shirt! I even got coffee on it!" Lovina is furious. The She-bastard certainly knows that this crap doesn't wash out! "I will SOAK your fucking bomber jacked in coffee! And clean your boots with fucking bleach!" Can a high schooler be dragged to court if she strangles another right here and now?

" _Chiudi la bocca!"_ Caught off guard by the very Italian version of STFU, the curses Lovina was just about to scream at her fucking annoying counterpart get stuck in her throat and the brunette wonders how such a person could even be employed as a teacher. The grumpy man suddenly appearing behind the screaming Mediterranean takes a closer look at the mess in the hallway. " _Mi prendi in giro?_ " He turns back to look at her with his amber eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me?These shitty gummy spiders are a fucking lot smaller than what I find in my garden. –Not that I would shriek whenever I see them or anything… "

Coughing when grumbling the last part, the Italian glares at the trio standing at the centre of interest. His eyes wandering from Lovina to Feliciana and over to Amelia; especially stopping to take the time to gaze her up and down, Lovina wonders if he's checking her out or trying to kill her with his glare.

When the teacher turns his amber eyes back to the dark brown haired girl, he sighs as if discontent with… well, she has fucking no idea what he's unhappy with. Then points back at the mess. "Now I want this shit cleaned up and you kids return to class." Glaring to scare the spectators off that came to see what is going on, he huffs unhappily before adding an "And you might want to get changed into that first." The man points at the bundle of clothes in her hand, causing the teenager to blush in embarrassment.

"He's right, Lovi." Feliciana pats her arm and the angry teenager lets herself be dragged back towards the girl's washroom.

But not without glaring once more at Amelia, deliberately looking the other way. " _Cos'ha?"_ She wonders "What the fuck is wrong with her?!"

xxx

Stomping through the hallways, Matthew tries to find something to release his aggressions. Would the teachers mind if he goes to play some hockey by himself?

" _Mashuu-san_!" The boy slows his steps down when he realises the raven-haired Asian shuffling after him. " _Mashuu-san_. Can I have a word with you?" Kiku inquires and invites the angry strawberry blonde to follow him to stand at the window and watch the rain.

The two young men stare at the water drops landing on the transparent glass and rolling down, trying to catch up with some other drops for a while. Wondering if he should speak up first, Matthew tries to prepare a question that doesn't reflect the anger stirring inside him. "I'm sorry." The Japanese saves him from his struggles and breaks the silence first.

Matthew turns to look at the boy still fixing the rain outside. "No need for you to be sorry. It's not really your fault my sister can be ashole or that my family members are unable to communicate with each other." The freshman shakes his head. Now Kiku turns to look at him too.

"Indeed, that is not my fault. But I am the one behind the whole bullying idea." Frowning at the unexpected confession, the freshman doesn't really know what to respond. Without batting an eyelid, Kiku explains he gave Amelia the basic ideas while knowing that they would most likely not work out. "I had intended to go warn _Fericiana-san_ instead of distracting her, but I didn't find her." He continues with a guilty look in his eyes and lowers his head.

Mattie frowns. Why would Kiku make sure Amelia follows his plan if he knows it won't work out?

The Asian smiles. "Well, _Fericiana-san_ is a friend of mine and I've crossed paths with _Lovina-san_ before. I could not say I know her, but we had enough encounters to know she is not a girl who would easily let another person befriend her."

Thinking about the senior's words, Matthew tries to find the reason behind Kiku's doing. "So you knew that Lovina wouldn't let Amelia play the hero for her?" He tries to conclude the story and Kiku nods.

" _Hai_."

"What for?"

"Several reasons. The only one you must know, _Mashuu-san_ is that everything went according to my plan." So the plan behind the plan behind the plan? He's kind of starting to dislike this whole story even more. Grumbling angrily, Matthew slumps down to place his hands on the windowsill and angrily glare at the rain.

"Does it involve more stupid bullying? Because I don't want to be dragged in!"

"No. _Edoardo-san, Torisu-san_ and myself would not assist your sister if this were to continue. We would also not support her, if we didn't plan further than the pranks today. –And I am really content with the turn of events." Feeling the boy next to him shift, Matthew turns his face to look at him. With a serious expression on his face, Kiku bows to the taller boy and apologizes for the things happening today. Then he thanks him for unknowingly play along.

Still trying to figure out what all of this is about, the blonde shrugs and mumbles a "Don't worry about it. But what did I do?"

Kiku lifts his head and straightens his back again to focus Matthew with his dark brown eyes. "I am glad you could finally show your anger about this whole situation. It's not healthy to swallow everything and keep bottling up." Gently smiling at his _vis-à-vis'_ confused expression, the senior continues with more calming strategy-explanations: "In addition, you could even motivate your sister to go and visit her mother. Which is one of the reasons I agreed in helping her. If the two continue to refuse to meet each other, the three of us figured we need to force them to."

Though he'd really rather not get dragged into all this chaos; especially the fight between his mother and his sister, Matthew is still glad he's not the only one wishing they would do something against the bad blood between them.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Peacemakers and other characters:**

 **There you've got your peacemaker :D –Kiku!**

 **I told you he had his reasons ;) And that's just the begining of it ^J^ Some more people will also start to meddle with the different fights of FACE and Spamano.**

 **I don't know whether Scot will; but the headmaster and the janitor will kinda take part in the chaos-solving ;)**

 **I'll just throw some random side characters with minor roles in; just 'cause I like them ^^ You'll learn who'll turn out to have an important role in the whole story as it continues.**

 **xxx**

 **Ages:**

 **Slowpoke me did some research…:**

 **I checked out the ages of the characters… Didn't realise they actually have a human age before that… SORRY! Though I can't really agree with them… Germany(20) and Prussia(20) the same age? Seriously? (Well, it's kind of one country now, so it does somewhat make sense, but still…) And, wtf? Switzerland(18) younger than America(19)? –Nope.**

 **So… I made Doitsu older than Feli. -Which he is not in the original. But in my head canon it doesn't make sense that Gil would be the same age as Lovi's dad while his brother is the same age as Feli. Conclusion: Ludwig is older than Lovina and Feliciana. :P**

 **Lovi and Feli are the same age in this FF. So no 2 years age difference between the North and South. (Sorry, if I confused you. Wasn't aware of the difference) But there's also a lot of other ff's where they're the same age…**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Btw, I'm not really sure about the global warming thing… Does that make sense?**

 **xxx**

 **I'm happy to see you guys continue reading my story! :D (even though it focuses a lot on conflicts and I'm already starting to wonder what genre this actually is... ^^' The fighting's only just started… Loot of bad mood about to come .') You make my day whenever I update a new chapter! I hope you'll have a great week waiting for you!**

 **-Himawari**


	17. Find a way to solve it

This is the story of how she will die.

Unfortunately, she's not called Flynn Rider and this isn't «tangled» either.

But the worst of all, the phrase is not in past tense. It's future. And really likely to happen.

"Mattie hates me. Mattie hates me. Mattie hates me." Amelia's been chanting the mantra throughout the last lesson, completely lost in the negative emotions the blonde boy's outburst caused in her. Her life is going to end soon. In the worst possible way.

Mattie pulled his arm away and shouted at Amelia. Then he walked away. Mattie didn't even want to listen. No. He shouted. He refused her. He pulled away. –He's NEVER done that before. Her baby brother hates her now. Despises her to the depth of his heart. Cute, adorkable, wavy blond haired Mattie will hate her forever and ever and will avoid her. He will break of all contacts until the day Amelia dies all sad and alone from lack of social contact.

A piece of chalk flying through the room hits her head. The teenager grumbles but doesn't react any more than sighting loudly and stares at the white thing dropping on her empty paper. "Sit up and repeat what I just said." Allistor's sharp voice kind of registers in the teenager's head and is slowly progressed. To slow to actually understand what he's trying to tell her.

Amelia glances around and meets the expectant or mocking eyes of her classmates. English Lit sucks. She hates it the most because all the other students sitting in the stinky prison-like room happen to be the kind of people to sit and listen. –Or they're just intimidated by her uncle who's the very worst choice as teacher of the subject.

No chance of escaping the lesson either as her uncle would actually dare to drag her inside and declare that «Lack of sleep doesn't count as sickness». Great. How come everyone else has nice relatives while Amelia is stuck with such idiots?! His cute niece's feeling down and the asshole teacher doesn't even bat an eyelid when he sends her to sit at her table. Just why the fuck does the whole Kirkland family live with a stick up their ass?!

Plus, she's not tired. Her heart just got frozen; that's something completely different. Elsa's kind of freezing people inside out is nothing compared to how the teenager feels right now. And there's nothing she can do against it while sitting in this stupid class! Amelia slams her head down at the table. YUST WHY does she need to stay here, drowning in despair while she'd better run around the halls in search of Mattie!

"Mister Kirkland, I think you just killed her." The hulk from the back of the room raises his hand and gently offers to carry her to the infirmary.

The blonde barely registers the man stepping closer to lift her hand and looks through the green eyes rather than at them. "I'll let you go only this once, brat. But if I EVER figure out you had shallow reasons, you'll regret it." The redhead grumbles only loud enough for Amelia to understand him before he nods towards whoever and turns, continuing the lesson as if nothing happened.

"Let me help you." A cute voice chuckles next to Amelia. Shivers running down her spine as soon as she realises who just talked, the blonde turns towards Ivan. Before she can protest, the boy lifts her up to carry the struggling girl outside; holding her princess style. WHY?! HIM?!

xxx

Strolling through the streets to get his boss his favourite coffee, Antonio smiles at every person he meets or even exchanges some small talk with them while the disturbing thoughts in his head continue circling.

«You know you'll have to tell her eventually. You'll have to tell her eventually. You know you'll have to.» Among other things, Alice's so called piece of advice kept playing on repeat-function the whole morning. He already gave up on trying not to think. The only distraction which worked so far was talking with other people. But the worries came back as soon as he was alone again. Circling round and round and confusing him.

There's no answer to this conflict. Telling or not telling; neither is an option.

Trying to distract himself, the man looks around and spots a woman with a buggy. How cuuute! The mother's long silver hair shimmers in the sunlight. If the kid looks like her…? That would be sooo adorable! Unfortunately, the two turn to head a different direction, leaving the man no chance to spot the baby.

What did Amelia look like as a new-born? Did she resemble Alice or Francis?

And the thoughts are back. Great.

Because there's one more thing he doesn't want to think about: Alice was at the hospital. Around the same time as him. He met Francis that day, so he knew his friend's wife went for a check-up. But he didn't know she actually stayed overnight. Even though Antonio told him not to let her stay.

Alice as well as Lovina are confusing him. But he doesn't want to give in to the loop of thoughts. This needs to stop! But how? Antonio checks his watch and takes another step. If he can leave on time today, he might…

xxx

"IVAAAN!" Amelia screeches as soon as they're far enough to make sure the teacher doesn't hear them. The girl already had to realise the boy won't let her fight against his grip as every try of hers escaping him would only make him lock his fucking huge arms around her more tightly until it hurt. "Let me down you fucking commie!"

The boy chuckles and softly shifts his limbs to put her feet back on the ground. Spitting some curses, the blonde girl makes sure to bring as much distance between them as possible. However, the giant just had the great idea to let her hope he released her when he didn't really. Amelia has to realise all her escape routes are either blocked by walls or his huge body. He put her down in a fucking corner of the hallway!

Creepy smile on his face, the pale boy inquires why she is feeling down and –seriously?! –seems to be convinced he deserves praise for helping her out with escaping from the classroom. "Had a fight with my brother." She's not in the mood for fighting. Or any of his stupid games.

"Oh." Amelia realises the seriously concerned look on his face upon mentioning her struggle and clicks her tongue.

"Shithead! NOT everyone's siblings are creeps." The girl glares when Ivan winces. "Mattie is the cutest, cuddliest, most huggable polar bear this world has ever seen!" Amelia immediately realises she shouldn't have said that. The girl shivers when Ivan chuckles once more. CREEPY; STALKERISCH kind of chuckle. Silently, she prays her brother's habit of being forgotten will save him from triggering the giant-psycho's interest. Then it dawns to her. So THAT is the reason he has this ability! Background-fading abilities to save his own life. Mattie's the most awesome person EVER! His persona needs to be put down in the «Guinness Book of World Records».

One problem solved.

Commie Hulk still standing in front of her. Mattie still angry at her. So two more problems waiting in line. And, Mum. Shit. Considering the old hag's stubbornness, let's just add another ten problems to the list. How she hates facing troubles.

"So… Why were you feeling down again?"

"Listening when other people speak. Ever heard of it?" The boy's purple eyes narrow when he asks is she's sure she's the right person to point this out. Idiot. But he might be kinda right… Whatever. "I fought with my brother." Ivan blinks as if asking what would be so bad about that. "Kinda like… Now I'm the bad guy (slash girl). And he's mad at me. But I'm not!" Hectically swinging her arms through the air while trying to explain her point, Amelia doesn't realise she's actually sharing her inner struggle with her sworn enemy. "He's got it all wrong! But then again, he's right. 'Cause he's on good terms with the old hag while I am not. But I don't want to go and speak with her. And…"

Struggling with what she is actually trying to say, it's surprising the East European understands the core message of the stuttered chaos of words and phrases coming out of her mouth. "Well, why don't you just go and apologize to your brother? And take care of the thing with your mother after that?"

FACEPALM! He doesn't understand after all.

"Saying sorry isn't really the way to go for it with this one…" If it were that easy, Amelia would've done that. Or maybe not. Because even though she likes to talk a lot, she's not the type of person to talk things out after a fight. Talking is THE way to share fun stories and gossip. To joke around and laugh together. NOT for solving fights. But how should she solve them?

Ivan doesn't seem too impressed by her blunt answer and continues nonchalantly: "Who said you need to speak with him?" Debating over how she might as well jump from the roof right now if she'd wanted to live apart from Mattie, her classmate's calm words shut her up once more: "I mean that you can apologize through other means than talking."

"Come again in English?"

Ivan shrugs his shoulders. "Be there for him. Cook his favourite food. Buy him something he wanted for a long time but didn't buy…" Creepy smile stealing its way on his face again, Amelia takes another tiny step backwards. However, he seems to at least have the decency to keep any more and most likely weird examples to himself. "Things like that I guess?"

With her mouth open still and her finger frozen in the air; pointing towards the boy to talk back at him, something inside her head clicks. "Now I understand what you're trying to get at." Only an act of true love can melt a frozen heart. Or something like this. The girl has no clue how to solve this shit, but it's impossible to continue living like this. And she hates conflict. BUT…! It's Mattie. So she NEEDS to find a way to solve it.

xxx

Still fuming, Lovina collects her things from another lesson she didn't pay no attention to. Dashing out of the room, the girl almost collides with Feliciana, dashing towards the classroom with a worried smile. Declaring she will take her home, the girl swings her hands around Lovina's arm, ignoring the brunette's attempt to shake her off.

"Feliciana! _Lascami_!" Feli's been clingy all day, popping up at the weirdest places to check she was still alive or something. Tear-filled puppy eyes asking if she was all right and reminding her not to run away again. If she keeps this up, it will be Feliciana who disappears from her view because she gets kidnapped by some weirdo who realises she is to adorable for her own good.

"Nooo! I'll go home with you today!" The cu… annoying girl squirms and pouts, but refuses to let go of her arm until the two girl's grumpy Italian teacher turns up out of nowhere. Just what the fuck is up the non-social guy today?!

"Lovina Romana Carriedo." Pointing towards the door with his thumb, Mister Vargas calls her to go inside the Italian classroom next to the room she just escaped. Grumbling in complaint, the teenager manages to free her arm from her classmate's grip by pulling it away and «excusing» herself.

"What the fuck do you want?" The girl follows inside, hands in her sport trousers' pockets and an equally grumpy expression as the teacher leaning on the table. Respect for your teachers? Nah. School's over; so why fake any non-existent motivation? Without even scolding her for her improper language, the Italian man fixes her eyes with his and asks her, if she's being bullied. The girl snorts. "No?" Ignoring a certain blonde girl's fucked up brain and bullshit jokes, nobody would ever dare to go against her.

"Not even someone trying to?" The man continues and watches her every movement.

"Nah." Lovina shrugs her shoulders and wonders what he is trying to get at. For some time, the two just stare at each other. Narrowed eyes exchange piercing glares without any real reason; just to ensure neither of them will stop staring first.

Both jump when Mister Vargas' phone suddenly vibrates. The man flips it open to curse upon recognizing the caller ID and throws it back on the table before he focuses on glaring at his student once more. Slowly approaching her, the man doesn't say anything but continues to glare at Lovina until he is close enough to grab a strain of her hair. Though the girl is shaking, she fights the urge to take a step back. What the fuck does he want from her?!

"Maybe you should inform your guardians. In case anything weird is going on, send them to my office." Releasing the brown lock, the man turns for his vibrating phone once again and answers the call with flowery cursing rivalling only Lovina's.

The teenager blinks at the teacher. That was it? She shakes her head and turns for the door. Would she actually go to the teacher if anything was going on? Just any random problem. Would she?

xxx

Amelia!

As soon as the bell rings, Matthew storms though the hallways to his sister's classroom. Hoping he will find her chatting there rather than messing some more with the two South European girls, the boy prays that his sister didn't come up with any more stupid ideas.

His anger's somehow calmed down, but he has to agree with Kiku. Something needs to happen. And it needs to happen soon. Which is why he needs to find his sister asap.

Matthew overhears some teenagers talking to about an unsettling information: Apparently, Amelia didn't turn up for the last lesson. Slightly panicking, Matthew starts asking every passer-by where the blonde went, most only shrug their shoulders and turn to wonder who the boy was.

Time has proven it to be a bad sign if nobody knows Amelia's whereabouts, especially knowing his sister likes to linger around in the classroom after school ends, accompanied by many other students or walking through the hallways, dragging whoever she meets to come along with her. Long story short, it's out of character for her to disappear immediately after the bell rings. And most of the time this odd behaviour indicates she is up to something.

Trying a different approach, Matthew askes some Asian-looking girl if she happens to know where Kiku is. A shit-eating grin on her face, the girl's answer doesn't prove to be helpful either, but all the more disturbing as it involves something with groping. "So… What about Amelia? Saw her?" The grin immediately dropping at the mention of his sister's name, the Asian with the loud voice complains about Amelia stealing the boy away. Matthew decides to retreat and thanks the black haired student before shuffling back to the hallway.

Where did they go?

He finally sees his sister's point about why she always presses him to persuade their parents to finally let him go buy a phone. Or just do it the same way as Amelia: buy one whether they agree or not. And complain about what kind of parents would still refuse to let their kid have a phone until their fifteenth birthday. –Matthew himself doesn't really care, but it's situations like these, when he really wishes he DID have one.

Looking for her in diverse rooms, hallways and open spaces, the boy is glad for the gently drizzling rain outside, reassuring him he won't need to look outside. When he takes another turn, the teenager spots Felicia circling in front of a small classroom. The girl winces when she hears a man curse in some language sounding barely similar to French. Shortly after her childhood friend comes outside, not really caring about the teacher still shouting at someone on his phone. "Let's go home." The girl grabs her friend's arm and pulls her through the hallway.

"But Lovi~ what about detention…!"

"Who cares about detention." Glad the two are safe and out of his sister's reach, Matthew turns to head to the last place he can think of.

After another loud rant, he hears how the heated phone call comes to an end. Somehow, everybody is fighting with somebody. What a sad world.

Even him. Yelling at Amelia and walking away, giving her the cold shoulder. He knows it's the worst way to treat her. Of course he's angry, but even so! She's his sister. He needs to apologize. He shouldn't have overreacted like that. And he needs to talk to her about Mum! And apologize. Go ask her to finally speak with _Maman_. And apologize.

xxx

Happily enjoying her afternoon tea, Alice celebrates the fact that she could actually leave work earlier today. After arriving at the office all sleep-deprived, her boss didn't mind letting her off earlier for once. As the Englishwoman normally does her best to be a reliable subordinate, Luca insisted in sending her home to go get some rest.

The duteous Englishwoman didn't want to at first; but the Norwegian pressed her point further by listing all the times Alice stayed behind to fix some problems even after her shift ended. (Which was almost every day, but the rapports wouldn't finish themselves.)

Upon arriving back home and unlocking the wooden door, Alice felt the tiredness crash down at her and didn't want to do anything but sit on her couch with a cup of Yorkshire tea. Fifty percent of which is already as it should: Holding one of her favourite drinks in her hand, the only thing missing now is her couch.

When she turns to head towards the living room, her quiet time is disturbed once more when the doorbell rings and soon after a happily waving Spaniard makes his way in. _"¡Buenos dias!_ "

"Who said you could come in?"

The tired Englishwoman scowls but is clearly ignored when the brown haired man takes a turn for her kitchen and starts opening her cupboards. "Where do you keep the mugs?" Carriedo asks and Alice sees the obvious similarity to his daughter when it comes to helping oneself to food in her kitchen.

"What the fucking heck are you doing here, Spaniard?!" Folding her arms, she glares at him, only to be met with a happy:

"Polite as always, _Querida_!" He opens one more door and finds what he is looking for. Nonchalantly taking out a cup, Carriedo looks around some more and soon after discovers where she keeps her coffee pot. Smiling about how it has to be a decent coffee if Lovina drinks it, the man nods towards another cup and offers to brew some for Alice too.

"No thank you." Alice takes the pot out of his hands and returns it to its proper spot on the shelf.

The Spaniard keeps looking at his hands frozen in mid-air as if still holding the pot; wondering where it went. Then he sighs and lowers his arms with a pouty expression. "So you give my _bambina_ a coffee, but you wouldn't let me have one. That's unfair." Alice shakes her head at the man who continues mumbling to himself how she prefers «his Roma» over himself and so on.

Of course she would! After glaring her displeasure at him, Alice remembers something she kept wondering about before and asks why he calls her «Roma». Having him answer one question and then kick him out should be fine, shouldn't it?

"Because that's her name?" His green eyes blink at her as if wondering why she would ask such a question. Then it seems to dawn to him and he explains this to be her second name.

Shaking her head, Alice inquires why he would even name the girl after a city. And though Alice would prefer if she didn't have to look at his annoying visage to much; she still considers it to be impolite not to after asking a question. Knowing how it will most likely be this annoying smile of his, she would still rather not. However, upon turning his way this time, the Englishwoman is confused when she finds herself faced with an untypical expression of worry displayed on his face.

xxx

Antonio doesn't like how easily she manages to bring that topic up.

While Lovina usually tenses before she shouts her displeasure at him like an exploding volcano, the Englishwoman seems to have a talent to just naturally start talking about his daughter's background. Wondering whether she does it on purpose or whether she even realizes the depth of her questions, Antonio concludes that thinking about any messages hidden in-between the lines is too difficult for his brain.

He needs to put an end to this. Sort his thoughts out. Put some distance between the two of them. And between her and Lovina.

Figure out what Alice knows.

Antonio meets the woman's light green eyes, always burning with irritation as soon as the two face each other. Over all these ears the two knew each other, the look I her eyes never changed: Glaring. Daring. Challenging. With a hint of curiosity and a depth and knowledge he never quite understood. His words get stuck in his throat.

He's contradicting himself.

Because another, subconscious purpose of letting himself in the old fashioned house fights for his attention. Born from sheer curiosity and the longing need to know whether the Alice he knew in his childhood-days really disappeared; or if she is still there, hidden somewhere under the oh-so-polite façade she trained years to keep up.

This is not what he came here for. But he wants to know.

"And what about you, _Querida_?" Antonio decides that it's better to change to offensive mode. If he intends to keep her attention away from subtly questioning about his family matters, he'd better keep the blonde woman distracted. So continuing this a little bit longer should be fine right? He might actually manage to achieve both his goals?

Watching her frown at the fingers wrapping around the coffee pot once more before gently, but clearly unhanding it from Alice, he knows how she tries to make sense of his words. Antonio decides to help her out and repeats her question as to why choose a certain name for your kid.

"Kid-S." The blonde corrects, emphasizing on the plural. "You forgot Mattie."

Blinking confused, the Spaniard could bet he would quite often hear her talk about how adorable and how cute Amelia is. And about how amazed the Englishwoman was to find out how strong her baby-girl actually is, and how cute she is. And about how fucking annoyed she got about how they would start fighting over minor things. -And about how cute she is. But no Mat-whoever. No re-collections stored in his brain about him.

Then again… Thinking about it some more, the unclear memory of a blonde child pops up in his head. "Oh, right! Francis speaks about him all the time…" Antonio finally remembers and Alice grumbles something about how the frog better should.

He tilts his head, knowing how strongly Alice detests talking about the blonde man. Perfect. He's found the topic to piss her off. Antonio carefully leans a tad closer to the scowling blonde, making her slowly take a step backwards with an annoyed expression. "So…" HE decides to keep talking about the man he knows she hates. "When the two of you divorced. Did your kids take your name? Or did they keep Francis'?"

Finding the Englishwoman narrowing her eyes upon remembering the days they argued until the papers were signed, the Spaniard can see the anger in her eyes. Realizing the change in her glare, Antonio knows he is moving closer to getting her annoyed enough for Alice to let her guard drop. It won't take him much more to drag her former temper out.

"They both kept his name." The blonde finally grumbles and Antonio lifts his eyebrow.

"Really? Both of them? Amelia Bonnefoy and _Mateo_ Bonnefoy?" The man inquires and laughs happily when mentioning that it does definitively roll off the tongue a lot easier than the Englishwoman's maiden name. –It really does. But Alice doesn't seem to appreciate his thought.

"It's _Matthew_. And no; Amelia did at least not keep the frog's name because she preferred it over mine." Rolling her eyes and demandingly holding her hand out for the coffee pot once more, Alice remembers how the girl simply refused to accept the name «Kirkland» with the reasoning that she will change it to «Amelia E. Jones» as soon as she comes of age. Though her mother doubts this is even possible.

What a choice! Kirkland and Bonnefoy?! Openly laughing at the image popping up in his head of the teenage girl pouting about not wanting to be cursed with such an old-fashioned English name; but also denying everything which could make people think she's not a pure American but partly French, he gives up and hands the snatched kitchen tool back to its owner. Lucky him his parents blessed him with a nice name.

Speaking of which… Don't girls traditionally take the name of their spouse when getting married? He chuckles. "What will the girl do if she meets some random Russian and ends up taking his name? Or will she refuse that too?" Being at the receiving end of the Englishwoman's glare makes it obvious how the lady wouldn't jump in joy upon learning her son in law might end up coming from East Europe.

Then again, wasn't it HER of all people who married Francis. –A French. Plus the very stereotype French reason she even hated the people from that country to begin with.

"Stop bringing that cursed TOAD up, Carriedo." The blonde grumbles and brings her coffee pot back to the safety of her cupboard. "I was a fool back then. Blinded by a deceptive feeling like love." Throwing the small door closed, she glares at him and he knows how remembering her own foolish behavior makes her crumble behind her well-kept mask. Her statement of how she changed is just what he expected her to say.

Ah, it's always a nice thing to go with the flow. The conversation just led him to the perfect moment to change topics. It'll be an easy win now. He will at least manage to reach one of his goals. "Well, you changed since you LOST against me."

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **I don't own any of the Hetalia-, Disney-, Marvel- or other characters I mention through the story. I'm only the arsehole who put them in the mess they're in.**

 **xxx**

 **AmeRus and other pairings ^J^:**

 **I don't ship the teenagers with only one person. There will be diverse hints of pairings. :P I leave it up to you guys to decide which one you prefer ;)**

 **As for the adults, they're either in a stable relationship or single.**

 **While I'm at it: South Italy and Nyo! South Italy are the only ones who know their gender-bent version. As for the others, either the Hetalia or the Nyotalia character has a main- or minor role while the gender-bent version (Hetalia or Nyotalia) might appear as background character or not appear at all.**

 **xxx**

 **Mattie's phone:**

 **I was one of these kids. My parents allowed me to "go buy" a phone when I turned 14. –With my own money of course.**

 **But I didn't really feel the need for one either. So I kind of forgot this is not a common thing ^^' Sorry if I confused you with that.**

 **Sooner or later, Mattie will get a phone, depending on where he gets it from.**

 **xxx**

 **SpUK:**

 **At least we're getting somewhere with the SpUK! The two of them finally together in one room! …After 17 chapters... *caught**

 **But even so: yay! Beginning of Conquistador!Spain vs. Pirate!UK :D**

 **Now I need to figure out how I write the fights between them… *runs off and hides**

 **xxx**

 **Long AN, longer chapter… But I need to get somewhere with this story… Or it'll take me more than a year to finish :O**

 **Thanks for waiting and have a good week!**

 **Himawari**


	18. Don't -san him

**A/N**

 **Some translations and things explained at the end**

 **xxx**

No luck with finding Amelia in the football gym either. The girl seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Probably kidnapped by Aliens.

Matthew feels defeated when he watches the football practise. If not busy entertaining a group of friends, his pretty sister would be standing next to the field, practising her newest cheerleader-moves. Today however, the blonde is nowhere in sight.

Devastated, the freshman sinks down on a bench close to the field and starts staring at the mess of bodies crashing towards each other. He doesn't get it. How this game works or how people can even play it. Or not even who is supposed to do what. Amelia tried to explain several times, but because she always trailed off, he still doesn't know. Not idea what to do instead, the hockey player decides to try one more time to figure some of the rules out by watching the game. Maybe his sister will suddenly turn up.

Ok. Simple things first. There's a bunch of players and one ball. –Not really difficult so far. Remembering the times his sister dragged him along for random matches, Matthew recalls it's usually eleven players in each team. The goal of the game is to get the ball to the… was it the end zone? So much for the things he already knows.

The confused student watches how one player holding onto the ball collides with another player and ends up on the ground. The trainer shouts something. Matthew tries to listen to the shouting and make out what rule the trainer refers to, when a suddenly appearing Japanese speaks up to him. " _Mashuu-san_! I've been looking for you." The usually collected junior looks out of breath and has a hard time speaking. " _Mashuu-san_ , you need to follow me. Your sister…"

OH NO. What did she do this time? Almost jumping up to run and find her, Matthew first needs to wait for the exhausted Asian to calm down and be able to stutter the last part of what he wanted to say. "What happened?!"

"Well…" Kiku pats his ruffled clothes and tries to fix his hair while searching for the right words. " _Torisu-san, Edoardo-san_ and myself happened to encounter _Ameria-san_ and…" He glances up towards the strawberry-blonde's expectant eyes and swallows. "Together with _I-van-san_ … Trying to break in the school's kitchen."

Ivan-san? Ivan? As in Ivan Braginski? THE Ivan?! As if able to read his thoughts, Kiku nods. "Kiku… I have no clue what this «- _san_ » thing means you always use… But I'm sure he's not a «- _san_ » kind of person." Amelia would even refuse to come watch her brother's hockey practise because Ivan is there. And now the two rivals are teaming up and try to break in the school's kitchen?

Bullying and now vandalism. What's wrong with Amelia?! This sounds like a sudden personality disorder. So what's the next thing? Will she dye her hair brown, wear sunglasses and become vegan?

" _Mashuu-san_?" The raven haired boy tries to address his fellow student who just disappeared off in his little world.

"School kitchen, right?" After a small nod and an explanation that Toris and Eduard are keeping them –or rather keeping Ivan distracted, the Matthew dashes off.

xxx

Amelia quietly watches the scene displaying before her eyes and tries to make sense of it. Ivan creeping out Toris and Eduard isn't really anything out of the usual. But usually she would just jump in with some cool idea to drag her friends away from the moving block of ice. Not today. Somehow she found herself siding with him at first; hoping he might actually be friendly to his childhood friends. However, right now it's hard to guess whether he is or is not.

It was fun seeing the newcomers jump when they recognized the pale hulk standing next to the blonde girl, trying to unlock the kitchen door with her hairpin. After all, seeing Amelia standing within a then feet radius of Ivan is a thing which probably only happens every four years. The girl herself was surprised to realise she could actually get along with the Commie. But NO way. They couldn't agree any longer than five minutes and he's already being ashole towards Toris and Eduard again. Must have been some random illusion to think the weirdo could socialize like any other human being. Amelia decides to step in whether they're talking about nice things or not.

"Just leave them alone already…" The girl stands between Toris, Eduard and the pale hulk, blocking his way and stretching out her hand in demand for her hair pin. Because Ivan is too busy scaring her friends off, he also forgot to finish his work. Same old idiot as always. She might as well try to unlock the kitchen door herself.

The giant chuckles with a sound oddly childish; a strong mismatch to his huge body built and fixes his purple eyes at Amelia. Fucking PURPLE eyes! How comes the only person having almost as awesome eyes as her baby brother happens to be the Commie? "So, what if I don't want to?" Ivan stretches his large hand out to her and runs his fingers through her locks.

"Don't want to what?" Instead of taking a step backwards, Amelia simply slaps his hand away. She won't do him the favour and run away from him like all the others. "You will leave those two alone. Or you'll have to go through me."

Ivan chuckles once more. " _Krasavitsa_ , what harsh words are coming out of your cute mouth. I was speaking about giving the hairpin back." His grin wides as he lifts both arms to caress her locks once more, his voice calm and sing songy. "But I don't want to. It's looks cute this way."

CREEEEP! Maybe she should back away after all! Before he touches her once more.

A white something flying their way hits the Russian boy's head. His aura changing from creepy smile to really fucking creepy oh-my-god-the-background-is-turning-purple smile, the pale junior turns his gaze to death-glare at whoever dared interrupt his game.

"Hands off." A familiarly quiet voice barely makes his way to the Hulk's ears and OH Shit, Mattie! What is HE doing here?!

" _Ameria-san_!" Kiku appears around some corner far away from the group, looking… Worried! Really worried! Worried as in there's actually some expression in his eyes! " _Torisu-san! Edoardo-san_."

Unfortunately, her field of vision is soon blocked by a broad back, as Mattie pushes her aside to step between the girl and Ivan, cute-angrily glaring at the Russian. "Hands off." He repeats, this time slower, his voice clear and icy. If the situation wasn't that serious, Amelia could just die of a cuteness overload. Her baby brother's playing hero. Unfortunately this is no _shoujo-manga_ and it's demonic Ivan he's up against. His angry pouting won't get him anywhere.

"Ehe?" The blonde girl can't see it, but Ivan's face is definitively showing another weirdo smile. She quickly learned the more childish his voice rings in her ears, the darker his glare turns. It's not the worst expression yet, but close. "No need to change into hockey-mode."

Amelia feels her brother shift when he raises to his whole height, almost able to face the ice block of a student eye to eye. " _Ta goeule!_ I DO see a need if you dare touch my sister again, _branleur_." Uh-oh. He's serious. Maybe he does stand a chance? " _Putain_ , sis. What are you even doing here with the Commie bastard?" Unfortunately, this time his anger turns towards her.

High time to explain herself. Explain… Err… "Well, you see…" Another fit of French curses follows she's never even heard her father say and wonders where Mattie picked them up. "We… Err, I… wanted to …cook?" GREAT. She wanted to break into the kitchen to cook. What a revelation. What happened to sounding convinced? "To cook. Yeah. Went to the kitchen to ...cook." Amelia tries once more, fidgeting while peeking upwards at his angrily burning eyes.

"Cooking. You. " The girl nods hectically, not really ready to meet his doubting look. "And what would YOU try to cook?" Or rather his death glare. His words sharp as icicles.

Holy shit. And there people go and say Mattie is a gentle natured guy. Fucking Yellowstone Park is less dangerous than him. You're walking through thousands of square miles of beautiful nature, not knowing there's a huge volcano sitting underneath your feet, waiting to erupt every second. Mattie? Well, he's worse.

"What. Did. You. Plan. To. Cook."

Before surrendering to his demanding voice, Amelia recalls her personal guide of how to deal with a pissed-off Mattie (unless you're stuck on a hockey field. Which would mean your only chance is to pray and surrender):

First: Apologize (explain, if you've got the time to)

Second: Run for dear life.

"Pancakes?" The girl blinks at the boy, trying her best to look cute and humble, showing off the most heart clenching puppy eyes she can pull off.

Dumbfounded, the blonde boy repeats her words. Maybe she doesn't need to run after all? "Pancakes."

"Yes, pancakes." Wait. Did she just say she… Oh fuck.

"Why would you want to cook pancakes?"

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuck! Ivan completely forgotten, the blond girl uses all her efforts to not meet his expectant eyes. Pancakes. For her love of hotdogs, there's no highway she would try to cook them herself. Ever. Why would she if there's such a blessed thing as diners?

This is so uncool if he figures it out before she could actually bring the plan into motion! It was supposed to be a secret! A surprise!

Amelia quietly continues to struggle for words, when he whispers her name. When the girl glances upwards, the boy turns to stare at the suddenly fascinating empty hallway, cheeks turning pink. "I'm sorry" His voice is barely hearable, when he whispers the apology over and over again.

Which is wrong. Because he doesn't need to apologize! "Mattie, you didn't do anything wrong! You… I… Argh!" How she HATES conflict! Fighting with someone close to you is the worst! Quarrelling with Ivan could be declared as a new national sport. But fighting with Mattie… That's torture. Confusing. And just WHY does he think he needs to apologize?! Without realising, she grabs his hand to pull him to face her again. Blue eyes meet purple ones hiding behind flushed cheeks. She neeeeeeds to say something. "Well…" And Mattie is staring at her, politely waiting for her to continue.

"Just say it." A gentle push on her shoulder reminds the girl of the other boy's presence. Oh fuck. Toris didn't need to witness that…

SOOO embarrassing. She'd rather play hero, save Mattie's ass, fly off into the sunset with him and grumble a cool line instead of an apology. But today she'll settle for a simple "Sorry?" Only daring to look up at Mattie with one eye, Amelia finally spits it out, feeling her cheeks heat up.

The embarrassing moment is interrupted when Kiku catches up with them, trying to ask « _Ivan-san_ » something. When he realises the odd atmosphere, the Japanese immediately apologizes for interrupting. Kiku bows nervously as both sibling's heads whirl around and bark an unison: "Don't «- _san_ » him!" Weird mood all gone, the two blonde students debate over the best reason to not address Ivan with honorific. "Just call him «Ivan» or something."

"Or Commie, Ice block, Anti Hero, Frozen Hulk…"

The small Asian boy seems to shrink while facing both teenagers teaming up against the Russian at once. "But calling him without honorifics is kind off…"

"No «don't»'s!"

"But…"

"Just call him Ivan."

"No, I couldn't… _Muri_!"

xxx

"Lovi, Lovi, Lovi, Lovinaaa~" Feliciana continues whining all the way, trying to get her grumpy friend to talk. But nothing really works, because Lovina doesn't really want to talk. After all, what is there to talk about? Stupid day, worse lessons, annoying teachers, fucked up break time. Yahoo. Ruined clothes, ruined mood. Plus she just received a text from the tomato-bastard informing her he might not be home by the time she arrives. _Idiota_.

Lovina played with the thought of going to Alice's for a while, but… Two Kirkland's a day are enough. Ignoring Feliciana who keeps pulling her sleeve, Lovina tries to make sense of how the hated English Literature teacher, the high school's it-girl and the quiet and reclusive woman could ever be related. Or course, Alice might come off as bad tempered and, she has to admit, scary at times. But it's not anything out of the usual. Not for Lovina.

"Oh, look! This blonde girl wears the same shirt you wore this morning!" The auburn haired girl pulls her friend's arm, causing the brunette to stumble forward. Cursing under her breath, Lovina wonders what just caused the collision. Feliciana excitedly points at another girl with wavy blonde hair and the most amazing make-up EVER passing by, humming a lovely tune.

Seriously. Lovina must be cursed. THAT hair. Shiny, sparkling and all that shit every girl wishes her hair would look like. Wearing a similar outfit to what Lovina threw on that morning after lamenting between different outfits, almost causing her to be late. However, that girl looks hundreds of times better, even though she just combined the shirt with a simple pair of purple jeans. Fuck. That very moment, the South European girl decides to avoid that newly opened French shop she got the shirt from. No more experiments. Italian fashion it is.

Speaking of which… "Oi, Feliciana. What exactly took you so long to go look for a change of clothes?" The girl's brown eyes blink at her. "You know. During break time? The coke-incident?"

"Ah, _sì_ …" Feli seems to remember and smiles at a chunk of invisible air; most likely seeing a memory floating there. "I found a kitty!" Sparkly eyes meet blank ones.

A cat? She made Lovina wait for the sake of a damned stupid CAT?! With clothes soaked in coke?!

"No, no, no, no! Don't get me wrong!" The airhead tries to explain herself, ignoring all speed limits. With a voice going higher and higher by every punishing glare from her friend's side. "Well, I saw that little poor kitty standing all by itself and it was so cute, so I had to stop and look at it. And then it happened to run away, so I had to chase it and as I ran after it, it would only ever run faster so I followed it and tried to catch up to the little cutie, but it ran away each time I managed to approach it. AndwhenIalmostcaughtup, itturnedaroundacorner, soIthoughtIlostit. ButthenIrealisedanotherpersonwasthere. AndwhenI…!"

Lovina sighs at the shaking girl looking close to tears. "It's ok, _piccolina_. I'm not angry." Not really. A bit. Grumpy for sure, remembering standing in the hallway dripping with coke. But then again; poor Feli. Even cats run from her killer-hugs. The words muttered under her breath are barely hearable over Feliciana's outburst, but somehow it was just what the girl needed.

The shaking teenager stops to listen to Lovina as if expecting her to repeat the words once more. Questioning her to say it once more with a "Vee? What did you say?" and puppy eyes. And not causing Lovina to blush. Nope. Which is also why she wouldn't repeat the words which are answered with a relieved, glad "Vee~" After hearing the words of reassurance, Feliciana immediately changes to bubbly mode and narrates the whole soap opera of how she reunited with the kitten; finding it held in the janitor's arms. And how nice he was to let her pet the kitten. But oh, he looked kind of sleepy. "I took a picture!" The girl continues and starts searching for her phone without realising her friend's shocked expression.

"Of the janitor?!" Lovina wonders before she realises Feliciana was jumping between topics once more. "Of the cat… Of course…" Sighting slightly frustrated about herself, the brunette takes the phone to look at the picture. A tiny creature, shiny black fur and clear blue eyes st…glaring at the camera. With a white, ruffled handkerchief-looking thingy around its neck, the baby animal looks way to serious for a kitty.

Feliciana hums happily when peeking at the picture once more and explains she took some other pictures. Lovina taps on the screen to take a look at them, but the next picture appearing on the display isn't of another cat. It's an old family picture covered with an unstructured chaos of different apps. "Vee?"

"Why did you take a screenshot your home screen?"

"This is my home screen." Her cheeks start burning as Lovina realises she accidentally pressed the home button. Trying to hide her embarrassment, the teenager grumps how her friend could still use this old picture as a background. "But it's so cute! Our first family picture!" Feliciana's eyes sparkle as the girl takes her phone back and looks at the picture of a stiff Austrian not really knowing where to put his hands as a Hungarian woman next to him happily fold them around her big baby bump.

Maybe somewhere, someone also holds on to a similar picture of Lovina.

Is the Tomato Bastard also on the picture? Does he have a copy? -Where is it?

xxx

The Spaniard gives her the triumphant grin she hates from the depth of her heart. Alice strongly DETESTS it, knowing he's up to no-good. "Well, you changed since you LOST against me."

Alice's brows knit. "Pardon me?" The bespectacled woman blinks in irritation at the teasing green eyes staring at her. The corner of his mouth twitching in amusement, his whole figure emits self-confidence. Git.

After years fighting with him, Alice almost instinctively knows this is no longer about her annoying ex. He wouldn't be posing like that if it were. No. This must be worse. An old habit of his; changing topics all the time; often enough without anyone realising it. "When did I ever lose against you? I have no idea what you are talking about." The Englishwoman states; herself straightening her posture and folding her arms.

"Then, _querida_ , need me to help refresh your memory?" With these words, he slowly approaches her, causing the woman to take a step backwards. Alice feels the fridge door behind her back, wondering how the situation just changed from talking about Lovina's name to Amelia's name to the girl marrying a Russian to Alice marrying Francis to… Well, from fucking putting the pot back to where it belongs to her being pressed against the fridge.

The Englishwoman glares at the confident brunette when he gently lifts her chin with a finger. Something must have flipped a fucking switch inside his brain, bringing his bloody idiot-self from their high school days back. –Which is on a completely different (but just AS annoying as his happy-go-lucky act) level of idiocy.

His former self coming back always makes her remember some shitty memories she'd rather erase. Slapping the finger away with the back of her hand, she gives the man her best aloof smile. "Oh, you mean THIS cursed bet." Tilting her head, Alice's smile turns to a teasing one as she blinks at Carriedo, raising a single eyebrow. "Wasn't it YOU who lost completely?"

He doesn't back away, making Alice want to smack this stupid grin out of his face with her fist. But no, she won't allow this burning feeling grumbling in her belly to rise. She's not a fucking rebellious teenager anymore. She's supposed to be taking care of one. Or rather three by now.

Completely ignoring her offense, the man keeps his eyes locked with hers, making it clear that he won't let her off. However, it TICKS her off! Carriedo seems to completely oversee the fact that it was HER triumph back then.

"In my point of view it was not, dear Miss Kirkland." Stretching his hand out for one of her pigtails, the Spaniard runs his fingers through her hair. "If it would have been your victory, why did you evade me for the rest of high school?" Carriedo leans forward and whispers close to her ear: "We can always have a rematch."

The Englishwoman knits her eyebrows together. Oh no, she will NOT let him have his way. Screw politeness and acting ladylike. There's no fucking teenager around; nor anyone else but this git of a pirate imitation. And if he wants war; he shall get it.

xxx

Curse sibling love.

Out of all the things a big sister would do to see her baby brother smile, he just HAD to argue for this one: Going to visit the old hag.

Amelia grumbles to herself while approaching the old house looking like it would fall apart any time. Seriously speaking, there were many times she thought it would come crashing down at her if she would sneeze too loudly. When Amelia still lived in this ruin, the walls would even shake whenever the teenager turned the volume up to listen to her latest favourite song.

Creepy place.

Old and rotten. Paint flacking off. Shabby chic? The fuck. That's just the excuse for not wanting to accept the world advanced to modern designs. Or repainting the walls and the fence.

The unwelcoming house in front of her, the teenager wonders how she could ever agree to come here. Mattie's voice resounds in her ears. «Just face it. Our parents will never get back together. Even you should be able to see it. So what if she found someone else? Wouldn't that be great?»

She loves Mattie. Really does. And Amelia is blessed with her adorkable baby brother who actually forgave her for her idiot behaviour this easily. But STILL! Why does he need to be right in times like these? When she DOESN'T want to face the facts?

Her parents were a cute couple. Really cute. Perfect difference in size. Both blonde and fair skinned. Family pictures completed by Amelia's very lovely child-self and baby Mattie… The cutest shots ever.

On parent's day in school, all the kids and parents would envy her when the two adults entered. Charming smile vs. pouting frown (also misunderstood for knowledgeable and caring gaze). Welcoming vs. grumpy (often misunderstood for polite and respectfully distant). They attracted everyone's attention.

Like fire and water. Complementing differences.

Her dad could court and cook like a pro. Her mum tell adventure stories and knit plushies all the other kids envied Amelia for. Whatever her mum couldn't do, her dad could. And wherever the old hag wouldn't know any solution, the old perv would.

But they never stopped bickering. All day and night long. Making it hard to tell when they were actually serious. No wonder the sibling were shocked when they suddenly announced they will live apart from each other starting that very day, giving either kid only two hours to decide with which parent they want to stay. Who knows how long they've been playing the happy couple because they didn't want to worry their kids as the old hag explained it.

When she went to meet Mattie, Amelia had to realise the boy broke down completely. He turned into a ghost. A mere shadow of himself. Think the old hag would tell her? No. Because she wouldn't talk with Dad.

Why again are people wondering why she always fights with the stubborn, old fashioned woman?

Amelia glares at the house. Seriously. The shack looks as if time froze. Nothing ever changes here. Ever. She slowly approaches, trying to figure out if someone's home. Hard to guess because it's still too early and the stoic blonde would always insist on not switching the lights on before one's eyes rot because of the darkness. Saving electricity, my ass.

The door is locked.

Thankfully REALLY nothing ever changes here. Key still hidden at the same place as five years ago; most of the neighbours must already know how to break into the house. Amelia unlocks the door. Greeted by an empty and quiet hallway, she registers the tiny odd thing standing on the shoe shelf. Apparently her mother re-decorated the house. She moved her old, holy «don't touch it» vase from the living room to the entrance. Good job! Must've been quiet the identity crisis.

Upon further inspection, the blonde girl realises the vase was broken and carefully put back together again. Important gift from some important person or something.

Sudden muttered noises indicate the presence of two or more people in the kitchen. The girl runs her hand through her hair and finally realises something feels off. Fuck. Ivan didn't give her hairpin back!

xxx

Alice braces herself to fight back at the cursed Spaniard leaning way to close to her liking. She will SO take him down! He will only be able to crawl back home. The Englishwoman narrows her eyes at the man holding her chin in his hand with a provoking grin.

A suppressed gasp makes the two adults turn around. With horror, Alice faces her daughter and… Bloody hell, it's obvious the teenager completely misunderstands the situation!

"I think I should go now…" Carriedo coughs but Alice isn't really sure whether he is laughing or actually feels uncomfortable. Putting some distance between the two of them, he dashes an innocent smile at the blonde teenager and makes his way out of the kitchen.

"You really should, wanker." She'd rather not face two people with the cursed ability to tick her off beyond anger, rage and all that emotional shit at the same time.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Russian**

 _Krasavitsa_ = Beautiful one (girl)

 **Japanese**

 _Shoujo-manga_ = Manga for girls. More or less all the cute girly romance stuff.

Honorific – _san_ = Mr/Ms/Mrs.

Less polite honorifics; used for friends or younger people: _-chan, -kun_

Calling someone by their name without any honorifics is reserved for close family members and partners.

There's a lot of other honorifics; also more polite ones. If you're interested in it, google it or ask someone. But that's the basic you need to know to understand why Kiku got all flustered :P

 _Muri_ = Impossible

 **French**

Well, cursing. Cursing. And cursing again.

 **xxx**

 **Janitor:**

 **The kitten from the picture is not Germany Cat. ;P**

 **Greece is taking care of the whole Nekotalia cast. Some of them will have little appearances.**

 **xxx**

 **UsUk fight:**

 **Yes, yes. I know. I'm an arsehole.**

 **BUUUT bottling up really is a bad habit. This counts for Amelia too. Plus a little bit of information where the bad blood between the two comes from.**

 **And I'm sorry about Amelia's POV's. I'm not really content with them and it feels like I write them different every time. :( I'm still fighting with the writer's block and trying to figure out how to writer her POV… ^^'**

 **xxx**

 **Just me, tiny spoilers and so on:**

 **Late with update agaaain. Sorry. But it's still the weekend (in time zone GMT +0)**

 **And dear Guest. You made my day :) Yeah, it's great fun to bring up all those couples :D There'll be some more...**

 **CanMano too :D Actually can't wait to write them.**

 **That's it. I wish u guys a lovely week and myself a lot of time and inspiration for writing ;)**

 **-Himawari**


	19. No, now YOU listen

**A/N**

 **I uploaded two chapters this week because I didn't want you to have to read about the fighting next week as well. Here comes part one.**

 **xxx**

Amelia turns from staring after the Spaniard to face her mum again. Pointing between the door and her mother she askes: "So, you and… Grumpy's dad?" The Englishwoman brushes her hair out of her face and grumbles unhappily.

"No." She shakes her head but Amelia doesn't really seem to care.

Instead, the teenager snorts and folds her arms angrily. "I can't believe it… Did you…" The girl continues to angrily fold and unfold her arms to run her fingers through her hair or hide her hands in her pockets. "Does dad know about this shit going on between you and his best friend?!"

Francis. Just why the FUCK does everyone need to bring him up? "No, the frog doesn't. Because there is no…"

"Hell, I know what I just saw! This is fucking creepy shit going on between you and... him." No, no, no. Is NOT. Amelia approaches her angrily, the tone in her voice slowly rising. Then accusingly narrowing her eyes and pointing at herself. "Would you even CARE about telling your family?"

"Amelia." Here goes nothing. But Alice still does her best in calmly repeating the words. "I am not, in any way romantically involved with Antonio Fernandez Carriedo."

"Not yet." The teenager's eyes narrow down before she turns around with an irritated look to stare out of the window. Looking up and down the street as if trying to spot the man who just left them to face each other after the misunderstanding his presence started. Alice can almost hear the voices in her daughter's head screaming for attention. The uncharacteristic silence of the teenager is filled with different facial expressions representing her emotional chaos. Amelia sighs loudly. "What if Mattie was right?" The girl grumbles, eyes still focused on the street and sighting her frustration loudly when her hands crash down on the worktop. Amelia slowly turns to look at the refusing figure of her mother. "So. Do you have any feelings towards the man?"

"Pardon me? Did you even listen to what I just said?!" Of course she didn't. Or why would she ask such a question?! Didn't Amelia realise all Alice and Ant… Carriedo do is fight?!

Expectant but narrowed eyes glare at the Englishwoman. It's Alice's time to sigh. The girl is obviously reading too much into this. "Whatever." Amelia decides it will take too long to think about all this and whirls around, glaring at her mother with her hands securely placed on her hips. "Just answer me one thing. Would you tell Mattie and me honestly? Or keep this from us too?"

Alice feels her patience fade away with every hissed word coming from the teenager. "Bloody hell! Nothing. Is. Going. On. Between THAT git and me. So no need to inform anyone!" Trying to hold her posture Alice emphasizes every word, biting back curses whenever she opens her mouth. She tries to feign ignorance of her daughter's cynical snort, but the anger burning inside blazes up anyways.

"Yeah, sure." Of course she would not try to understand. The look in the teenager's eyes accusing the adult with something she didn't do combined with anger built up over the years.

"I repeat." Alice folds her arms in defence, reflecting her daughter's pose; and to keep herself from jumping at the girl's throat. She won't let her feelings control her. "I am NOT romantically involved with anyone. Even less with that fucking Spaniard. So let's all calm down and settle this like grown-ups." She narrows her eyes to answer her daughter's glare. Close to spit a collection of curses, Alice almost proves her own words wrong as Amelia seems to bounce off each of her mother's words without even hearing it. Fucking hussy, knowing exactly how to piss her mother off. The Englishwoman is at the end of her patience. One more wrong word and…

"Crazy old shut in" the teenager accuses her of the one thing, Alice would rather NOT hear. Two fucking little words. Like a cursed little flame. But, bloody hell, all it takes to light a bomb.

"ENOUGH!" Her shout resounds in the old Victorian halls. Not able to silence the child for more than one second of shock, Amelia immediately recovers because she knows her mother all to well. Once she explodes, shit is about to go down.

The teenager won't back down either. "CRAZY RECLUSIVE!" She ignores her mother's warning grumbling. "Would it kill you to talk with your family members from time to time?"

xxx

Matthew happily hums while enjoying his maple ice. Though Kiku wondered why he would take this flavour, his odd choice of black-sesame ice cream wasn't any better.

The Asian boy had planned to go to the place with Amelia and her other friends; which most likely included Toris and Eduard, but also half of the school. However, because Ivan was around, the two other boys were dragged away by the creepy giant. Which left only Kiku and Matthew. Both, glad to enjoy some quiet time rather than being surrounded by a huge flock of people, they decided to head for the city by themselves.

"Kumaki!" Matthew suddenly halts in his moving. "I forgot Kumaki!"

" _Mashuu-san_?" Kiku realises his companion stopped walking and turns to require why. "Who is _Kumako-san_?" Confused, the Asian follows the blonde boy heading back towards school.

"My polar bear." Matthew, completely lost in thoughts and worrying no one took his plushie away, doesn't realise he walks to fast for Kiku to keep up without running. An unsure voice calling after him makes the tall boy slow his steps once more. Waiting for Kiku to catch up, Matthew finishes his ice cream.

The Japanese boy apologizes and asks Matthew to repeat his answer once more because he didn't understand it. " _Sumimasen_ …" He even bows, a thing the strawberry blonde isn't used to.

"No need to bow… You're older than me and… I'm sorry I walked away." Really confused by the humble boy, Matthew tries his best not to stutter. "I mean… It's fine so lift your head, please?" Kiku mumbles another apology before he finally raises to his full size once more. Though he is still a lot smaller than the younger boy is, the freshman feels a lot better like this. The brown eyes look at him, as if waiting for something. Oh, right… "Ah, eh… So, Kumaoji is my… Er… Polar bear stuffie?"

The Japanese blinks in confusion and mumbles: " _Kuma_ … _Ouji_?". How embarrassing! Which high schooler would still carry a plushie with him?! Then the quiet boy smiles. "You like polar bears?" Not really knowing how to answer, the freshman shrugs his shoulders and nods, cheeks slowly heating up. " _Kawaii_. Why polar bears?"

The junior seems genuinely interested which helps the younger boy relax. "Back when my parents were still married, we would sometimes spend or holydays in Canada. I love the country and even my chaotic family seemed to relax up north. _Papa_ bought me the stuffy on a day out. You know, one of these «father and son days»."

"Father and son days?" Kiku doesn't seem to know about such outings. "What does one do on a father-son day?"

Matthew blushes again upon remembering the odd plans his father would always come up with. He rubs the back of his head and tries search for the English words. "Err… They were also kind of weird. I don't know… Other boys would go hiking, cut down trees or something. But my father… We drove to the city and I was taught how to pick out a suit. We would go to fabulous social gatherings where he explained how to act around high society." Looking away to hide his blush, Matthew shrugs his shoulders. "Things like that I guess?"

Though he doesn't say anything at first, the Asian seems rather impressed. Then he remembers something. "Ah. I actually did spend days like these with my guardian. But they would teach me things like _kanji_ or _Buddhism_."

Now it's Mattie's turn to not know what the other is talking about. For a while, the two continue walking in silence. Glancing over at the smaller boy, Matthew realises he doesn't really know a lot about the Japanese. They didn't really talk to each other before today. It's kind of a given because they're in different years and the blonde freshman has the annoying habit to blend into the background so no one would even realise he is there. But Kiku is an interesting character and he enjoys the calming atmosphere of the Japanese. "Erm, do you also have a favourite animal?"

Kiku doesn't really react. A little frown is the only indication the raven haired is thinking of an answer. "This is a hard question." The Asian continues walking while staring into space, completely concentrated on finding an answer. Then he sighs, unable to find a solution. "I just like to many of them. Especially if they're small and fluffy."

Matthew didn't expect that. It might be impolite, but the strawberry blonde just has to laugh at the serious expression on the raven haired boy's face when wording his thoughts. Cute and fluffy? Did Kiku really just say that?

" _Mashuu-san_ , please don't laugh." Now he looks extremely nervous. Who was it again that said this guy doesn't show a lot of emotion? One just needs to look closely.

"Please don't get me wrong." The taller boy stops laughing and faces Kiku with a serious expression. "Little animals are cute after all."

" _Mashuu-san_ …" The Japanese boy stutters. Coughs. Tries to find the right words. "Cute… Yes."

Matthew laughs again.

xxx

Amelia frowns.

Same old, same old. Fucking same old as always.

"This has got nothing to do with… Amelia, please stop mixing different topics together." The blonde woman sighs angrily. But these topics have got A LOT to do with each other! But the old hag wouldn't even TRY to understand where Amelia comes from. Stubbornly insisting on whether or not anything is going on; rather than considering how her kids might feel about that.

"Hello, this is your daughter speaking. Your fucking RELATIVE! Inquiring if you would care enough to share important information with her. Things which might some day have an effect on our family." One of the relatives her mother managed to chase away. Just like most the others. "And there's some other people related to you, you know? Ever heard of caring for them? Telling them about important matters? Listening to them? Instead of forcing your ideas on them?"

"Amelia..."

"No, now YOU listen! Actually, I don't really care about your fucking love life. I don't care what you're doing. But I DO care if Mattie happens to encounter a situation like the one today and misunderstands. Are you going to explain the same shitty way as you just did? Or would you actually try and explain before that happens?" Out of the few people still sticking with the distant Englishwoman, Mattie would be the most affected person if left out again.

"As I just said. No need to tell anyone if nothing is going on." The blonde adult just folds her arms, stubbornly refusing to try and see anything but her annoying «logical approach to the root of the problem which needs to be solved». Thing is, she just COMPLETELY missed the root of the problem. "And stop jumping between topics!"

"Stop jumping, stop jumping. –NO! All these things are related to each other, don't you get it?!" This isn't getting them anywhere. "I saw you making out with Antonio. You continue debating over whether or not something is going on or not, while I try to get you to realise it's not ALL about you! Holy shit! OTHER people care about you too you know? It would be nice if YOU would also show you care once in a while."

"Amelia…"

"Mum, really. Please don't deny it. Don't go all «we're no couple» all over again. That's really not... -Well, not only."

"Amelia…" She doesn't really want to listen. She's heard enough of her «let's settle this like civilized people.». But… The teenager decides to give it another try. She put her thoughts into words. So it's her turn to listen to her mother's approach. Amelia shrugs her arms but looks at her mother, expecting her to continue. Seeing how her daughter more or less asks her to continue, the older blonde starts once more: "Amelia, we weren't making out." The teenager narrows her eyes, but Alice glares back, commanding her to keep quiet and listen. "This just needs to be said. An… Carriedo is a childhood rival of mine. He thought it would be fund to turn up and bug me once again. –As for the other accusations, it's true I don't like to sue people with words I don't mean. My language might not be all flowery or filled with fake interest all the time. That doesn't mean I don't care."

YEAH, sure. Partly true. "But your words turn all flowery when talking to the void." Her other sighs, explaining she is not talking to the void. Oh, right. The teenager remembers. Yeah. Fairies, of course. Amelia shakes her head. "So it's easier for you to communicate like a social being when surrounded by non-existent magical creatures but normal human beings tire you out? Your family isn't good enough or what?" Shifting her position, the younger blonde tilts her head to look at her mother.

"You know how long I've been friends with Pixie and the others! Of course I would have some nice words…"

"It's not like you didn't know your siblings since you were a baby or anything…" However super realistic the adult might be, her mother always manages to forget her principles and her ladylike act whenever other people are involved. How VERY rational… Huffing angrily, the Englishwoman defends her act by complaining about them all being assholes. "You really don't get the point, do you?" The teenager rubs her forehead and glares at her mother. "Most of the time, people treat you as you treat them."

Trying to figure out if any of her words reached her mother, the girl's blue eyes search her mother's green ones. They meet angrily burning light green orbs, showing the adult doesn't. Or doesn't show it.

"I'm one of them. Treat me like shit, I treat you like shit. And I hope you will realise that. I REALLY hope you do. Because I will not come back. And if you continue to act the way you do, everyone else will leave you too." Backing off when hearing the suddenly calm voice of her daughter, it seems the adult can't really think of anything to throw at the teenager anymore. Turning for the hallway, Amelia looks back once more, an unpleasant feeling of loss nagging at her. "Just stay with your imaginary friends and die alone."

xxx

Kiku is still flustered. Unable to speak because he is too busy thinking of a way to talk himself out of the embarrassing situation of having just called another boy cute.

"Don't sweat it." Though he tries to calm the other boy down, Kiku seems to be more puzzled after his comment than before it. "I mean… It's fine. No worries." Finally, the Asian relaxes. Maybe he didn't know the meaning of Mattie's words? "So. Are there some cute fluffy animals, which only live in Japan? Or which do you like especially?"

Glad for the change of topics, the quiet boy gives the new question some thought. "In Japan… I think Cats or foxes? Oh, and the red crowned cranes. They are beautiful! I saw them once when… Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start babbling."

Matthew blinks in confusion. Babble? "Oh, don't mind me. I'd like to listen." Kiku seems rather nervous and continues speaking faster than normal. The longer he continues to talk about the gracious re crowned cranes which are almost extinct and most of them live near a village where people take great care of them, the Japanese seems to calm down. Encouraged by Matthew attentively listening, the shy boy remembers more interesting stories to tell.

"Once I had a wonderful encounter with a fox cub. It must have lost its way and fell asleep under a tree in my parent's garden." Matthew realizes the gentle smile settling on his sister's friend's face. The quiet blonde enjoys the raven haired boy's relaxing company. "I thought it might be a spirit descending to the human world and brought a bowl of rice for it. But the fox didn't like them it seems. He ran away to hide instead and the rice fell on the grass." Kiku's mood drops ever so slightly, but then the smile returns once more as he continues the story with his calming voice. "I called my mother to help me bring some new rice. Then I walked over to the fence and opened the tiny gate so the fox spirit could see the exit. I headed back inside the house. When I returned to the garden, the fox had left and eaten all the rice."

"So you think the fox cub was a spirit and accepted your offering?" Matthew smiles as Kiku answers with a quiet but happy

"Hai." Kiku takes his phone out of his pocket which he decorated with a small fox charm. "I am really glad the cub ate all the rice. I don't know if it was a spirit, but I am thankful I could offer some help. I kept this charm to remind me to always try my best and help someone."

Matthew takes a look at the charm Kiku shows him. It's really well made. "I'm sure it was grateful." This reminds the blonde freshman of their family holidays in Canada. The house they stayed in was out in nowhere. Always surrounded by snow, they would often get diverse little guests leaving footprints all over. Squirrels of martens. On time, a polar fox came and Matthew could actually feed it by hand. "However, when Amelia realised, her excited voice scared the poor thing away."

Kiku chuckles. "This sounds like _Ameria-san_." Both boys laugh quietly. They know Amelia to well. She means no harm, but sometimes her overflowing excitement is misunderstood and the other party shies away. "Let's both make sure she can be completely herself again soon."

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

'Cause there's not that many languages in this chapter but I had a lot of fun coming up with names for Kumajirou and what it sounds like for Kiku ^^

 **Japanese:**

 _Kuma_ = bear

With the different endings, the name gets different meanings:

 _Ki_ = tree

 _Ko_ = child

 _Ouji_ = prince

 **xxx**

 **Couples:**

 **Yes, I will only leave it at hints and cute interactions. Or platonic relationships. Most of the unsinkable ships are platonic ;P Aka they're already close. Yay, fluff! :D**

 **As for pairings with Canada… If I went completely by the book, even his mother wouldn't remember him most of the time. So no chance for pairings. And who said the other characters will always realise his presence/ remember about him ;) –Who were we talking about?**

 **xxx**

 **Me having fun dropping in side stories:**

 **Baby animals… YES, I needed some cute stuff between the whole fighting ^^'**

 **Francis… -.- Dragging Mattie along so he can flirt with women at high-society parties…**


	20. What's your real problem?

**A/N**

 **I uploaded two chapters this week because I didn't want you to have to read about the two of them yelling at each other next week as well. This is part two. First half in C19**

 **xxx**

Alice rubs her temples and sighs frustrated. Somehow, the angry teenager didn't leave the house as she expected but rushed for her old room. Most likely to pack some things she forgot last time.

This is serious. Amelia is ready to leave the house only this shortly after she entered it again. Hardly ever did the Englishwoman see her dorky daughter looking so serious.

Which is bad. Moving out at seventeen; this can't turn out well.

The blonde takes her glasses off to clean them. She needs to think.

Amelia keeps jumping back and forth between topics and different problems without any logic. NOT helpful. If she would just listen! Well, yes. Socializing has never been the Englishwoman's forte. But bringing up her brother at random, then complaining about fairies while Amelia herself is BFF with an alien… The girl doesn't make any sense.

Amelia's imagination is as vivid as ever. Who was it again that said the teenager could live by herself? The girl still believes life works like Disney Princesses movies. Small disaster, challenge, happy end. –With Alice in the cast of the evil stepmother or what? Lovely.

Alice follows the girl to her room and finds the teenager stuffing an old school bag with clothes and the like, the new pyjamas crumpled in one corner of the room. "Your things will never fit in there if you crumple them like that." Regarding the overflowing bag, the Englishwoman passes her daughter to pick the pyjamas up. She folds the two-piece to demonstrate how to do it right. Ignoring Amelia's glare, Alice continues to fold more of the clothes her daughter gathered and builds a pile, which she places back to where they belong. Inside her daughter's wardrobe.

Amelia doesn't wait to tear some of the shirts out again and stuff them back in the bag, sitting on it as if hoping it might actually close.

"You know, that won't work." Alice shakes her head.

Amelia answers with a lifted middle finger. "Who asked for your advice?"

"Well, it's obvious you needed it." The girl might have survived the last weeks by herself. But Alice won't accept this any longer. Life will get tough after some time. In addition, what about exams? How should the girl survive these weeks AND make sure she doesn't need to repeat any subject? Doing everything by herself is out of question.

The teenager snorts. "Yeah, sure. As if I couldn't clean up after myself or what." Alice folds her arms, admitting that it would be rather troublesome if the teenager left such a mess. The blonde girl stops struggling to stare at her mother for a while. "Is that your ONLY problem?"

xxx

"I'm back." Antonio calls through the dark hallway and searches for the light switch. Grumbled curses and clattering kitchen tools accompanied by the delicious smell of Italian dinner inform him of his child's bad vibes. Apparently, the girl is in the perfect mood to show all of her South European temperament as soon as he steps into the kitchen. While taking his shoes and his jacket off, the Spaniard braces himself to meet with his daughter, wondering if it's his fault or another person's, thing's or situation's. Either way, he will be the one at the receiving end of Lovina's rant.

Glancing around the corner, the state of the kitchen only supports his bad feeling. A pile of dirty clothes in the corner, kitchen tools spread out all over the table, an enormous pot of pasta boiling… Lovina, wearing her hair up in a ponytail and a jumper, phone held between her ear and her shoulder, crumbling in Italian. Ah. She's talking with Feliciana.

Antonio repeats his greeting, causing the teenager to spin around and almost drop her phone. "Say Hi to Feliciana for me." The man smiles at his daughter and stretches his arms out to stabilise the girl. "Smells nice! Feli's recipe?" Lovina grumbles something before she turns to her pots again.

Judging by the quiet reaction when he entered, the man can relax and know the girl at least doesn't seem mad because of him. The burning anger in her eyes however make it clear something went the wrong today. Walking through the room in search for any kind of clue what happened, he frowns when taking a closer look at the clothes. Inspecting them from up close, these are definitively coffee strains. This won't wash out easily.

" _Sì, sì… A dopo… Stai attento, mi raccomando."_ Her voice more gentle for a short moment, Lovina finishes her phone call.

Her eyes narrow when she spots the cloth in the man's hands. Before Antonio can tease her for actually showing she cares for her friend, a small black thing catches his eye. "Is that a spider?" He wonders, causing his girl to jump backwards and repeat another bunch of curses.

"Fucking She-bastard!" Apparently, the girl is back to swearing. She looked more relaxed just one second ago, telling Feli to take care of herself. None of that present any longer, Antonio faces the fact that he will have to sit and listen to the brunette ranting all evening.

Listening to Lovina's complaints for a while, the man frowns. He doesn't like what his daughter tells him. Slightly bowing down to face her eye to eye, Antonio grumbles, his voice toneless and making it clear he expects an honest answer: "Are you being bullied?"

Lovina doesn't answer. Seeing her avoid his eyes, the Spaniard would love to immediately run and confront whoever caused this mess.

"Lovina?" After inquiring once more, the teenager throws her hands up in the air and turns around.

"Fuck no. Seems to be some new shit Amelia came up with to bug me Feliciana." The man frowns. Why would the teenager do that? "Heck, like I know! Fucking American feeling bored or some shit." Antonio sighs. He doesn't like that. But at least he knows Lovina isn't alone. She's not by herself. Whatever might be going on, Feliciana is by his daughter's side.

xxx

"Why are you always like this?" Amelia's got Mattie on her side. And Kiku. Toris, Eduard and maybe even Feliks. As well as Tony and a bunch of other people. They might not support her every decision, but they are all loyal. As well as a bunch of other people keeping her back. –But what about the old hag? "Is it your deepest intention to scare everyone away who might actually stick with you?"

The teenager huffs in frustration and recalls all the moments she wished the woman would just try and see her standpoint. Or at least realise her own situation. Sticking to theory doesn't always work. Because people have feelings. Amelia has feelings. Mattie has feelings. If her mother would just try to understand people as human beings rather than mathematical patterns or whatever she sees them as. Care just a little. And SHOW it.

"I prefer to choose my company wisely and invest in few people rather than a bunch of them. Quality over quantity, my dear."

Yeah sure. "Quality my ass!" Then what about some quality time with Mattie?!

"It's still better than having a bunch of people you don't really know."

"And who would those oh-so-important friends of yours be?! You have no idea…"

But no. The old had doesn't try to understand her daughter's point. Another lecture it is. "I know exactly what I am doing and who I spend my time with. Compared to other people, I spend my time wisely and with people who share my values rather than any kind of bad influence…"

"BAD INFLUENCE?! Are you FUCKING kidding me?! Don't you DARE say that ever again!"

"I see. So YOU are the bad influence on them. Sorry, my mistake." The blonde woman states, giving her that look. THAT fucking look. Regarding the teenager as if she would never be able to live up to the old shut-in's expectations.

"What?" Amelia coughs irritated. So fucking what?! She's a damned TEENAGER; quoting the word the old hag just LOVES to use to describe her «inability to judge and choose the right thing». Teenage years. That's the very DEFINITION of the time where one's ASKED to go make mistakes. But how should you start trying what works best for you when you are being tied down in a freaking curfew-fanatic household.

"Oh, did you take that personal?" The Englishwoman mimes a shocked expression before her eyes narrow once more. "Sorry, but don't expect me to pamper a rebellious brat like you with soothing words any longer. We're long past simply talking things out. So stop beating around the bush and get to the point. This isn't about Carriedo or who I'm friends with. What's your problem?"

xxx

Lovina continues playing with her food, still grumbling. The adult didn't manage to get a lot of information out of the teenager. She doesn't want to talk. But she doesn't want to let it go either. Antonio looks at his baby girl, unhappy she isn't her usual bubbly or complaining self. She's quietly suffering without knowing how to deal with the situation.

But a dad always knows what his baby needs. –Or at least tries. "Lovi…" the adult starts, waiting for the teenager to react. "Lovina?" He calls again, but she doesn't answer. "What are your plans for the weekend?" A simple shrug indicates the girl heard his question. Good. "Well… We didn't go to a go-kart place in a long time…"

Romana's fork stops moving. She turns her head to the side and raises an eyebrow, eagerly listening to what he wants to say. When he doesn't continue, the girl grins. "Can I invite some friends too?"

"Sure! But they'll need to pay for themselves." The Spaniard laughs happily, glad to see the girl scrape some pasta together. "I'm sure Feli would be glad to join us. Don't forget to invite Liz too, ok?"

Grumbling happily, the teenager's smile widens as she balances the food towards her mouth. "We will beat you dusty oldies once more!"

"Try." The «oldie» grins, glad to see his baby be her cheeky self again.

xxx

Her problem? Did the old hag just ask what her problem is?! –Of course she did. And she revealed her fucking real face: The complete ashole. Void of all emotion. "YOU are my problem. Thanks to you I can't ever do the things I like without thinking you will turn up and disapprove of whatever I'm doing. I want to do things my way." Her mother's face doesn't show any emotion. It's eating the teenager up from inside. "What if I just wanted you to approve of me ONE single time? Be proud of what I'm doing rather than complaining I didn't do it your way?" Amelia's voice fades as she expects a reaction from her guardian. But nothing happens. Again. A sad smile steals itself on her face. "You see, that's exactly the reason why I decided to move out. I… I want to become free"

"Amelia…"

There she goes again. But the girl only wants her freedom. Find her own way of doing things. –And be acknowledged for it.

With a quick movement, her mother steps closer and leans forward, nimbly grabbing the collar of her Amelia's jacket. The blonde girl tries to back away, but her mother's grip is strong and to firm. She could slap them away, but then this fight might never come to an end. "What are you…" Suddenly feeling the hands release her, Amelia stumbles backwards. "What did you…"

With horror, the teenager recognizes her purse in her mother's hand. Held up right before the girl's eyes, Alice grins triumphant and opens the purse. After searching through old bills and a collection of coupons, the old hag seems to have found what she has been looking for. With two fingers, the Englishwoman holds Amelia's credit card up.

"See, you're just talking big once more. But what will you do once you don't have my support any longer? You're but a minor. What can you do by yourself? You scream for freedom, but the wold doesn't work as easy as that, brat. This world is harsh. No education, no good job, no money. Simple as that. Now tell me, what do you think you can do by yourself? This world runs by a fucking system. And the system prefers to spit people out who don't fit in."

"Mum…"

"That's why you are naïve. Now be good and stop this whole crap. Just try a bit better to fit into this system. It's too early for you to face life by yourself. Living in some crappy room, surviving on junk food; you're only betraying yourself. Save things like watching cat-videos all day long for when you have a stable job."

"Mum…"

"Also…"

"Mum! Slow down. Can I say something?" Trying to figure out what exactly is going on right now, Amelia takes a step back when her mother snaps at her:

"Well?!" Looking as if telling the girl whatever she's got to say it'd rather be worth the adult's time.

The eyes which used to look at her with so much love, as if she was the most precious treasure on earth; cold as ice. The blonde Englishwoman's proud silhouette stubborn and refusing. How should she talk back to her, if her mother refuses to listen.

What happened? When did they change that much? When did it start to feel like Amelia is moving forward while the older woman stopped? She was so big. Her mother was her hero. When did that change?

This is all so confusing. Why does her mother bring up all these things? Doesn't she have even a little faith in her daughter? A tiny bit? How come they end up fighting all the time? It doesn't have to be like that. But if they continue like that, they will never be able to work hand in hand again.

It nothing changes, this has to stop. If the two women don't want to ruin everything, they need a break. –Amelia needs a break. Needs to be able to breathe. Do her own thing. And come back on her own. Her mother needs a break too. Hopefully she will take the chance to think about some things and realize chance isn't always a bad thing. If Amelia can show her, maybe the stoic Englishwoman can start to trust in her daughter's way of doing things.

"I might not be a fully grown woman yet, but I'm already sixteen. I can drive a car; get a job, whatever is needed to live by myself." The teenager locks her blue eyes with her mother's green ones. Without batting an eyelid, Amelia states that she will move out. "This time for sure. And I will not come back." Alice doesn't move an inch. Credit card still in her hand as if it were a weapon, which she could use to win against her daughter's determination. "If you want to block it, go ahead. It's fine."

Finally; and only now, Amelia spots some reaction in her mother's face. Her eyelid twitches. "As if I could do that. As if I could take the little support I can still give you even when you don't face me." Sinking down on the wide bed, the Englishwoman seems to have a hard time keeping her poker face. She pulls the bag towards her and quickly organizes the things Amelia threw on the bag. Within seconds, everything is stuffed away. With shaking, pale hands, the divorced woman places the credit card on top of the clothes and closes the bag.

Without another word, the adult gets back up and leaves the room. Amelia follows her example and heads towards the door.

Did she want it to end like this? She got what she wanted, but…

Her mother's quiet footsteps are barely hearable but the teenager knows the adult stands behind her. Turning for a last time, Amelia's eyes widen when she sees the little frame in her mother's hands. "I'm sorry. And thanks." The teenager takes the old picture they took on one of their mother-daughter days. Both blonde girls laughing happily. "I wonder when we changed that much."

xxx

xxx

No

Just no.

This did not just happen.

Amelia left. This time she left for good.

Alice closes her eyes and inhales a deep breath. Think. Fucking brain, work! What is she supposed to do in a situation where nothing can be done?

Fuck

She messed up big time. And so did Amelia.

How could they ever make up with all these differences between them. With all the bad blood between them. Alice's fucking pride. Her daughter's cursed wish for freedom. Freedom from her own parent.

How many times will Amelia have to see her dreams crumble, how many times will Alice break precious things with her fucking pride and distance until they learn?

Shit. This is not how it's supposed to be.

They're supposed to be family. Share interests. Share laughter. Work together. Even each other's flaws out.

Like in the good old times. As a mother she should be able to teach her kids things they need to know for their life. Strategies and hacks to survive in this cruel world.

But Amelia won't listen.

Why would she, if she already knows all these things? Figured them out by herself? Her own way?

But Alice won't listen either. Stick to the old and renown way of doing things; Amelia never liked that, wishing her mother could see the potential in her daughter's work instead.

She does. And she knows. She always knew. But it just goes against her fucking logic! Of course the girl can go and just try out random experiments during chemistry class, accidentally figuring out how things work. This is one way to do things. But isn't it just so much easier to follow the instructions rather than playing try and figure it out by trial and error?

Once more, as it started to happen over the last weeks, it's the sound informing her about someone calling her landline which dares disturb her thoughts from going round in circles. Sitting frozen at the wooden table, Alice continues staring at the white wall, trying to ignore the sound.

It stops.

Starts again.

Sighing, the Englishwoman decides to answer the phone and prays it's neither Carriedo nor her annoying ex-husband.

It's not.

"YO ALICE!" Obviously not. Now the question is, if it wouldn't actually be better to be bugged by either of those two shitheads rather than deal with a nocturnal… "HOW'S IT GOING KESESESE…" …Gilbert.

She doesn't listen to whatever he is screaming about. But the words «pub» and «go drinking» register in her brain. Not caring about whether she interrupts him or not, Alice smiles and nods. "You know what, Gil? That's exactly what I need right now. Which pub?"

"AWEZOME! –Same place as ALWAYS! KESESESESE!" The woman puts the receiver back down and heads towards the door. That's the perfect way to finish such a fucked-up Friday evening. Good thing to have frenemies when you need them.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **USUK fight:**

 **I'm crying right now. Yes, it was I who wrote that chapter and all, but even so… Amelia! Alice! *cries ***

 **xxx**

 **Me having fun dropping in side stories:**

 **Spamano for this chapter. Can't write Alice and Amelia yelling at each other all the time… It's killing me. :(**

 **AAND! *hums* PrUK, PrUK, PrUK, PrUK, PrUK ~ Yay! :'D With the stereotypical drinking scene… :P XD**

 **Spoiler alert: Gilbert's girlfriend will be reviled in the next chapter! –It's not PruCan, I'm sorry. But they're cute! ^^ Wait and see ;)**

 **xxx**

 **Late update**

 **Didn't make my deadline, sorry D: But at least there's two chapters ^^ Two killer-chapters… They were so hard to write… ^^'**

 **Sorry I updated the last chapters only by the end of the weekend… I didn't really have that much time to write with life going on and such.**

 **xxx**

 **That's it! Two chapters for one, so I'll shut up now. End of the AN.**

 **Until next weekend ^^**

 **-Himawari**


	21. Who needs anything when we've got ale?

**A/N**

 **German translated at the end**

 **Conversation at the Bonnefoy's is written in English. Even though I'd love to take the challenge to write it in French, it's unnecessary. After all, I'm sure they speak Spanish/Italian at the Carriedo's too, and I wouldn't be able to pull that off. My translating app is my best friend when it comes to these two languages after all. So just think of Franada speaking together in French and Spamano in Spanish/Italian.**

 **xxx**

Alice swings the pub door open and waltzes inside. It's not hard to spot the albino sitting at the bar, already fighting with the bartender.

"ALICE! Help me out, will you! Zat guy doesn't want to give me any _Feldschlösschen_."

The Englishwoman lets herself fall on a seat next to the noisy man. "A brown ale for me. –Is that a new German beer? Don't mind him, Sir. Just give him a _Krombacher_." Turning her head to look from one man to the other, she drums her fingers impatiently against the wood while the barman fills a glass.

"Nah. Not German." Gilbert doesn't know whether he should complain about which country which beer comes from, complain about the newly employed bartender calmly refusing his request or complain about Alice's attitude. A pale hand slams down on the wood, as red eyes stare at the poker-faced man at the other side of the tap. "I don't want a _Krombacher_! Gimme a _Feldschlösschen_!"

"Sit down and drink what I give you or my troll kicks you out." Gilbert continues to argue with the bartender for some time and laments over the glass placed in front of him. –A _Krombacher_.

Completely ignoring his rant over the only partly-awesome choice of beers, Alice jugs her beer down and calls for another. One more complaint before Gilbert does the same. Waiting for the refill, the white haired man takes the time to turn towards Alice and greet her. "You didn't go all-out, I see?" he comments her outfit rather than actually say hello.

Raising an eyebrow to look at his outfit in return, the Englishwoman shrugs her shoulders. Black, ripped pants and band shirt; he didn't bother taking any flashy clothes out either. "When deciding between dressing up and getting to chug a beer earlier… Well, the beer won." She takes the second glass and repeats the same routine as with the first. Chug and order another in one go. "Otherwise I might have dyed my hair pink before coming. Or black. Put on all my piercings and…" She finishes her third ale.

" _Heilige Scheisse_! Alice, calm down! I don't want you to be hammered before I get to tell you about my awezome…" The blonde woman shuts the white haired up with a glare and orders her fourth beer. Finishing the drink in one go again, the German winces as she smashes the empty glass down once more. "Fucking shit! You need to find an outlet for your anger!" The German ruffles her hair, causing it to look worse than one would think was possible. Shrieking in complaint, Alice tries to evade his hands. "Bottling up isn't healthy, Alice."

Must be nice. Being too busy with his own life and messing with other people's problems because he doesn't have any himself. The German's always been like that. Alice sighs. "Gil, please never get a girlfriend, never marry and most certainly NEVER get kids. Just stay the happy idiot you are."

To focused at watching the man behind the bar holding her glass, the Englishwoman doesn't realise her German friend's complaining pout. "I DO have a girlfriend!" Alice's focus shifts. She stares at the man with a doubting look.

"Yeah… The one nobody's ever met… Sure…" Raising an eyebrow, the blonde woman supports her head with an arm placed on the bar. "How was that again? Overprotective father?" Alice can't really get it into her head her old acquaintance never manages to bring the girl along. Or imagine Gilbert acting all lovey-dovey with the little, fragile looking cutie he continues to brag about even though none of his friends believes they're actually together.

Gilbert growls. "Overprotective brother." He rolls his red eyes. "I'd say that's even worse." The Englishwoman grumbles. Yes, brothers always mean trouble. She slams her glass down once more. But ex-husbands are worse. Or daughters. Or fucking rivals! Gilbert shift once more. "Rivals? Did you meet Toni?"

"Meet, my arse." Alice's fist crashes down on the wood. Spitting all her displeasure, the Englishwoman complains about her companion's bff. "The cursed git turned up at her doorstep, talking me into babysitting Lovina." Gilbert; the «gentleman» he is doesn't respond at first; doesn't even react at her cursing his friend. Then his imagination most likely manifests in a short movie of how Toni might have tried to force Alice to babysit Lovina. Breaking into a fit of laughter, the white haired man almost falls of his chair.

Wait, not just almost.

"Alice babysitting Lovina… This should've been filmed!" But he won't stop laughing even as he hits the floor but continues to roll around, holding his stomach. "Toni's new strategy to get on your nerves." Well, at least it seems he still sides with Carriedo.

Alice glares daggers at the shaking combination of white and black, trying to make out where it starts and where it ends. As soon as she figures, the Englishwoman tells herself, she will ram her elbow in his stomach, hoping the pain might actually shut him up. She settles for pouring the _Krombacher_ standing next to her over him instead, waiting until the laughing bundle starts spiting and picks himself up. "Alice! Was that MY beer?!" The blonde regards him with cold smile and shrugs her shoulders.

"Maybe."

xxx

Smiling as he looks at Kuma-what'shisnameagain?, Matthew thinks some more about the stories Kiku told him. Japan sounds like an interesting country. He's never been to any other countries than Canada, France, England and the US. Imaging a place so different from everything he knows is almost impossible. Trees with flashing red leaves, old-fashioned temples and malls with little shops where you could get lost looking at all the small, cute and odd things they present for sale. Where fruits are horribly expensive but made perfect and people think any foreign-looking person is American.

" _Salut Papa."_ After bringing his teddy bear back to his room, the teenager returns to the salon and spreads his homework on the tea table. His father happily waves a _Bonjour_ at the boy from behind the open kitchen.

"How was school?"

Flipping through his notebook, Matthew has to think. Today. What did he do toda… OH. Right. –Maybe he shouldn't tell _Papa_ about that. He MOST LIKELY shouldn't. Shrugging his shoulders instead, the teenager mumbles an "It was ok." Instead, doing his best to sound natural without having to look at his father. He's a bad liar after all.

Trying to focus on his homework once more, the gentle clattering noises from the kitchen blend into the background. His hand moves, but his thoughts are drifting off to somewhere else.

How did it turn out?

His sister came up with a weird bunch of ideas just to meet someone who might probably be a bit closer to their mother than she would like. Thanks to that, somehow; though he still doesn't really get what happened today, Kiku and Matthew managed to talk his sister into going home.

Maybe he should really ask _Papa_ if he could get his phone before his next birthday.

" _Mathieu_ , what are you doing?" The adult's sudden question brings the teenager back to reality. His father stands behind him, pointing over his shoulder with one hand and a wondering expression. Matthew turns to look at his homework again. Ups. He started doodling wherever there was free space rather than actually fill in any answers. Baby polar bears, foxes, ice-cream and other little foods with cute faces like on the pictures Kiku showed him. "Is that supposed to be a hamburger? And a grumpy tomato?" The adult takes the sheet to inspect it with his lips curling to small smile. "Mathieu…" Oh no. The high schooler doesn't like the tone in his father's voice. If he talks in that humming way, it always means trouble. Gently placing an arm around his son's shoulder, the Frenchmen sits down next to the boy and looks eyes with him.

"Don't get it wrong… I was just lost in thoughts..." Matthew tries to explain what doesn't need to be explained, looking away to ignore the mocking look in his father's eyes. Before the adult can ask any weird questions about why his baby-boy would be so lost in thoughts he actually starts doodling happily smiling baby animals, the teenager tries to think of anything to keep the man distracted. ANYTHING. "Err, _Papa_ … What would you do if Mum got a new boyfriend?"

Oh no. NOT anything. ESPECIALLY not THIS!

Surprisingly, his father blinks and leans back. Matthew, glad he got some of his personal space back, turns to face his father. Well, he already asked. He doesn't really want to look at his _Papa_ right now, and it's a very odd topic to talk to your parents about, but can't be helped now. As Gilbert would say: «Face it like a man» -Or something like that.

The Frenchman, obviously taken aback by his son's sudden question, clears his throat. "Well… In the unlikely event of a… boyfriend…" His blue eyes drift away to look into the distance. Then he turns back to his son with a smile. "I highly doubt that would happen." Having forgotten about the doodles, the blonde man releases his son and returns towards the kitchen.

" _Papa_!" Quickly putting his notes away, Matthew shuffles after his father, not ready to give in yet. "Not even a «what if»? I mean… You guys were married. Would it really be that odd if she found somebody else?" With a raised eyebrow, the adult turns from the oven, holding a gratin which he brings to the table.

"Mathieu, this is your mother we're talking about. The scratching-cat. I've never met a man who would actually go through all the trouble to get close to her." With a wave of his hand towards the cupboards, Francis askes his son to bring the plates, then he halts in his movements for a split second. But no matter how many times Matthew askes, his father won't say a word about what he suddenly remembered.

xxx

After finishing another few, or not so few glasses, the two debating adults started their forth shouting fight and ended it; deciding neither of them won. Again.

"This is getting boring." Alice slams her half-finished ale down. Are they growing old? Is that it? "You're just coming up with new excuses every time!" The Albino chuckles.

"Zhat's no excuses; I'm just explaining why I'm right! – _Aber_ _is wirklich stink langweilig_ , if you don't know what to answer anymore."

"Because you don't make ANY sense! You just mix and match completely different things."

" _Quatsch_! I ALWAYZ make sense." And there we go again! Why, just WHY did Alice agree to go drinking with the German? Ignoring the fact they both go wasted after a few glasses, Gilbert has the extra nasty habit to start «sleep walking» as she calls it. Halfway leaning over the bar with his eyes partly closed, whatever he says makes less sense than ever before and he starts slurring his words with German. " _Oooh, ab in den Süden_ …"

Alice secures her head with her hand, fighting to keep herself up. Trying to make his words out, the Englishwoman looks around the room. Smoky, smelly pub as always. But one of the sole places the four frenemies didn't get banned from. After some time she realises, Gilbert isn't sleep talking but singing.

"… _der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht!_

 _Der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht._

 _Und ich sag_...! ©"

The Englishwoman slaps him upside the head, complaining about his horrible singing. Oddly awake as soon as he realizes Alice doesn't like his song, Gilbert continues raising his husky voice with every single word escaping his throat. The melody however, changes. It's a new song.

" _Ich bin so schön, ich bin so toll_

 _Ich bin der Anton aus Tirol._

 _Meine gigaschlanken Wadln san a Wahnsinn für die Madln._

 _Mei Figur a Wunder dar Natur_ …©"

Without another word, Alice empties her pint once more… Over Gilbert's head. "Stop your fucking singing. You suck without a band. Does your German sound even worse when you're drunk?" Spiting and shaking his head, Gilbert grabs the corner of the bar to bring himself up and grabs his pint. With a swift movement, the Englishwoman manages to escape the beer he throws at her. "Missed me!"

"No-P-e." Popping the «p», his wide grin looks even more annoyingly. Slightly shrieking, Alice realizes the horizon is turning, accompanied by his malicious laughter as he orders another beer and lifts it up, to congratulate the woman on her fall. " _Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude_! –And; _nur so nebenbei_ , that wasn't German. –Not real German." As _awezome_ as his amazing self is, Gilbert holds his hand out to help the Englishwoman get back up, even though he is still shaking with laugher. With his other hand fondling for his phone, the Albino explains this stupid song could never be German. "It's shitty Austrian dialect, I tell you. Oh, and you GOTTA see this video! It's this weird dude singing about how handsome he is…"

Ignoring another fit of laugher, Alice shoves the hand with the gadget aside. "Like heck could I tell if it's crappy German or stupid Austrian German or weird Swiss German or whatever? It sounds horrible without a band, that's what counts." She looks around the room. "Go find some drums and let's talk about it once more."

Gilbert pouts and puts his phone away, revealing a snuggly duckling cover. Then his grin widens as he starts drumming his fingers against the wood of the bar. Alice stops her rant to listen to the rhythm. Right; who needs drums? "Who needs drums?" The Albino words the blonde woman's thoughts and winks at her. "Who needs a mic? A stage?"

"Who needs anything when we've got ale." The two reflect each other's grin, grabbing their pints to slam them together and start… Wait, where are the glasses? Turning at once to stare at the barkeeper, the English as well as the German complain in one voice. "Hey! Give them back!"

But once more, the man's face doesn't show any emotion. "Your glass was empty anyways. And I will only refill it once mores" Is all the soundless voice states.

"Sir." Alice leans over the bar, pulling out her most refined ladylike-act. "I really think you're a nice guy. And I'm thankful you're acting as a stand-in for the bartender. But I must decline." Smiling while trying to act over her dizzy mind, the Englishwoman knows better than Gilbert: pure debating won't help her. The man is only helping out. He doesn't seem like someone who would be a regular. Which is a pity, he seems like someone she could get along with.

"I'm used to people who like to drink. So I don't care if you drink until you faint." The man dries some glasses and sets them away before he continues. "But you're noisy. I'm just helping out for a few hours and my shift will end soon. You get your beer, I get my quiet evening. If you want another, order it when the second shift arrives. "

Shrugging her shoulders, Alice turns back to a sleepy looking Gilbert, complaining how he doesn't care as long as he gets a beer whether or not the guy is leaving. Alice wishes the blonde a nice weekend before she nudges her friend. "So. Which song?"

" _Ärzte! Böhse Onkelz! Tote Hosen!_ " Imitating the barman's poker face, Alice declines each band her friend requests. "Come on Alice, really?! They're awesome bands with super famous songs!"

The Englishwoman frowns. Couldn't he come up with some better bands? Like _Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd_ … Wrinkling his nose, the Albino looks up at her, complaining about all of them being English bands. "So what?! English bands are good!"

"1D is also an English band." Tired Gilbert doesn't seem to be down to negotiations. He shrugs his arms, refusing to change his mind. "Why does it always need to be an English band? Even back in high school, we mostly covered YOUR favourites!"

Realizing the quiet man is leaving his workplace behind the tabs, Alice takes the opportunity to get back up and makes her way up to stand on the bar. Folding her arms, the Blonde stares at the top of her white-haired friend's head. "Well, isn't it obvious? That's 'cause I am the singer. Of course I would chose the majority of songs." The Albino still refuses to let her go that easily, trying to convince her about random German songs he is certain she knew. –Which she does, given the fact that he wouldn't stop bugging her about «this awesome song he just found» day in day out anyways. Tired of his complaints, Alice places her fists on her hips. "Do I look like I speak German? No way am I singing a German song. That'd just sound horrible."

"Nobody is going to sing anything!" A new voice echoes through the bar as their old acquaintance, the owner of the bar makes his appearance. Not caring about him, the Englishwoman tries walking up and down her newly-found stage, making sure more and more people in the bar realize something is about to start soon. Some of the guests recognize the couple causing a fuss in the center of the dim room and happily approach.

Problem is, they still can't agree on a song. Standing at the bar, Gilbert still refuses to start with the intro, drumming some random rhythm while arguing with the newly arrived bartender. "Yes, we WILL sing."

Close before getting kicked out; either because of fighting with the second shift or because of starting a fight with each other, a tall man's sudden appearance interrupts the heated discussions. "Who's gonna sing what?" Followed by a whole bunch of people, the American –OBVIOUSLY an American; who else could speak with such a horrible accent? –swings his coke through the air and continues to cheer for some good music.

"Excuse me, sir. Minors aren't allowed in bars." The Englishwoman calls down from the bar, not the slightest bit fazed by his million-watt smile resembling her daughter's. And his laughter. This loud and annoying laughter, resounding in her ears. Like HER. Bloody hell. Another person added to the list of people she doesn't want to see, coming right after the Frog, her daughter, Carriedo and Lizzy; but before Gilbert and her brothers. The intruder approaches the bar to stand next to Gilbert, smiling up at Alice who just realized she is wearing a skirt. Better take some steps back.

"Well then, stingy English lady who reminds me of someone annoying dude I know…" He glances at the blonde with big blue eyes. "Which song's it gonna be?" With a smile, the BOY waves his identity card to order some drinks for his group.

Looking at the idiot leaning against the bar with his cursed bomber jacket and wide grin, there's only one song she can think of. Stuck in her mind since Amelia rushed out of her house the second time.

The blonde four-eyes takes another sip of his coke, smiling at some of his friends quarreling before his blue eyes turn to the Englishwoman once more. Alice frowns, as she mumbles the name: "Numb." Happily laughing something about Los Angeles, the blonde hands the barkeeper his loud speaker and takes a bunch of drinks in exchange. "I'm looking forward to the show." And off he goes, the fucking very male version of her cursed daughter.

Gilbert at least seems to be content with the choice, as he claims the loudspeaker and fondles with his phone until the well-known melody resounds through the room. The melody of a song her daughter would listen on highest volume whenever she was pissed at her mother but knew she was at fault as well:

"I'm tired of being what you want me to be

Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface

I don't know what you're expecting of me

Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes"

The Englishwoman closes her eyes even though she knows it will only make her recall all these fights she'd rather forget. Gilbert sings along with the whispered lines:

"Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow

Every step that I take is another mistake to you

Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow"

She never realized. Rather, she never wanted to realize. The lyrics, the music video… It all reflects the situation they are in. Talking about different things without trying to understand the other's point of view. Arguing over minor things, ignoring the fact that they're all based on the same confusing fact: they're different. And neither of them will ever change as much as the other wishes she would. Because they just too different. Neither of them could ever manage to change this much. Either they learn to accept the fact, or the situation will stay the same. Fighting. Day in, day out. It's tiring. Just tiring. They've been at it for such a long time already, both of them are tired out.

"I've become so numb, I can't feel you there

Become so tired, so much more aware

By becoming this all I want to do

Is be more like me and be less like you©"

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translation:**

Well, many words, sayings and other things in this chapter… I'm sorry I couldn't really do it the way I prefer to do it; copy paste the part from the story and just re-write the German parts in English. It would turn out really messy and I don't like that. Plus some things can't be translated but need to be described… It'll take time to explain some of it, but here goes:

 **German and so on:**

 _Feldschlösschen_ = Swiss beer

 _Ach du heilige Scheisse_ = Holy shit

 _Krombacher_ = German beer

 _Aber_ _is' wirklich stink langweilig_ = Yeah, fucking boring

 _Quatsch_ = Bullsit

 _Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude_! = A saying which is really hard to describe. I'll try it like this:

In the context of the story: You laugh because someone wished you misfortune, but it hit them instead.

Other context: It's the most fun if you can laugh because of someone else's misery. /Seeing something bad happen to somebody else makes me laugh. /Also used if someone else meets some misfortune which might have been meant for you. Eg: You're drawing lots to decide who needs to clean up. You win, somebody else loses.

 _Und nur so nebenbei_ = Oh, and by the way

 **Lyrics from the song «Ab in den Süden» by «Buddy»:**

 _Oooh, ab in den Süden_ … = Oooh, let's head southwards…

… _der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht! Der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht._ _Und ich sag_...! =

…Let's follow the sun, hey, (what's going on/ let's do that)! Let's follow the sun, hey, let's to that! So I say…!

 **Lyrics from the song «Anton aus Tirol» by «DJ Ötzi»:**

 _Ich bin so schön, ich bin so toll Ich bin der Anton aus Tirol. Meine gigaschlanken Wadln san a Wahnsinn für die Madln._ _Mei Figur a Wunder dar Natur_ … =

"I'm so handsome, I'm so cool, I'm Anton from Tirol. My super-slim calves make the girls go crazy. My figure is a wonder of mother nature…"

xxx

Well, I'm not saying that Gilbert would listen to either of these songs. But they're pretty famous and the lyrics from «Ab in den Süden» are quite the match for the BTT (They could've written the lyrics when drunk) As for «Anton aus Tirol», well… It's an Austrian song about a narcissist. I think it's the perfect kind of song for Gilbert to sing if he wants to annoy Roderich. Plus… Anton – Antonio; way to go if you want to annoy Alice who doesn't understand the lyrics :P

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **I don't own any of the songs, lyrics, bands; band names, beers and so on. If you want to learn more about them, ask uncle Google and Youtube.**

 **xxx**

 **Songs:**

 **The German songs don't have any further meaning for the story. It's just Gilbert fooling around.**

 **The other songs however have a meaning:**

 **I had the UK-Mano scene with the song in mind since the very beginning, and after a long search I used «Hearts Alive» as lyrics for the scene. But it's kind of odd to only have one single song in a ff so I decided to bring some other ones.**

 **They mostly come when the relationship between two main characters starts to change. In other words: you can see this as a turning point ^^**

 **When I listened to «Numb» again after a long time, it struck me as the perfect song for the USUK. It'll take some time, but at least the two are trying to start to understand the other person's POV.**

 **I am also aware that it's not really the type of music you'd think Amelia listens to. But if it's supposed to be a message to her mum, I decided the lyrics count more than the type of music. Plus, if she wants her mum to listen to the song, she would have to choose a genre her mother would actually listen to and not plainly ignore it. So, Linkin Park it is.**

 **x**

 **Well, looking back, I don't really know about «Hearts Alive». It's not really got anything to do with the relationship between Alice and Lovina; but is more meant as an ice breaker between the two women. As for the lyrics… Kinda Alice drawing back from the outside world? Isolating herself until Antonio came to turn everything upside down? Does that make sense? It somehow makes sense to me, but I'm not really confident I could put it into words…**

 **xxx**

 **I hope you can enjoy some nice weather like over here ^^**

 **-Himawari**


	22. That's it, we're leaving

**A/N**

 **German translated at the end**

 **xxx**

"You little…!" After the song ended with Alice tumbling forward in shock and falling head first on Gilbert's stomach when the Englishwoman learned the annoying American's name was Jones, the young bar hopper seemed to find pleasure in arguing with the two regulars. Laughing loudly at the Germans attempt to help the Englishwoman up on her feet again, he easily managed to get at Gilbert's wrong side. This resulted in the stoic man to try and show off his strength in each and every odd way he could come up with.

Lifting Alice up was the first thing he could think about of course. Soon though, he realised trying to carry the Englishwoman princess style to demonstrate his strength would only work against him as she continued to struggle for her freedom. Therefore, the Albino decided on other ways to show off, such as arm wrestling or random Spartan workouts, trying to motivate everyone to join in. His displeasure about being called a «weak old man» long forgotten, he enjoys challenging everyone in the pub to compete against one another and leading the mob of cheering watchers at the same time. –If he isn't fighting himself that is.

That American Jones however easily keeps defending his position of undefeated arm-wrestling king, competing with Alice to see who can bring down more contenders.

Soon, there's no challenger left and Gilbert decides wisely to skip the event, excusing himself with saying he's too awesome to compete against them because it was his idea and he started the whole fight. "That leaves the two of us." Jones grins and moves over to Alice's table. Placing his elbow down next to her, the young man winks at the Englishwoman glaring at him with narrowed eyes.

"Bring it on, brat."

Alice stares at the hand he offers with slightly chubby fingers. It's hard to tell if he hides a little bit of extra fat under his bomber jacket. Must be the fast food. But that doesn't change the fact that the kid is huge and his hands are big as well. Her small hand disappears in his big one.

"As you wish, old lady." Their hands clench together, waiting for Gilbert's signal. "You know, you really remind me of someone I know. I bet you stuck up guys would get along."

"Oh, if it's like this, I would also have the perfect match for you. Adorkable idiot without a plan most of the time and the naughty habit to end up looking like a child seeing a unicorn for the first time." There he goes again. This annoying laughter. Alice squints. Should she ask if he'd rather she compares it with aliens? Alice decides not to.

"So. You're calling me adorable?"

"Wait, this is not…!" But a chirping sound interrupts her complaint. –Gilbert's signal. All of her muscles stretch immediately to fight against the mass of a man. But he's just as he looks, a bundle of muscles, not moving an inch no matter how much strength she puts in.

"So, tell me. What is a refined English lady like you doing in a… flophouse like this? What happened to sitting idly at home doing embroidery and tending to your daisies?" He doesn't budge. Not at all. It's like fighting against a rock.

Not wanting to answer his question, Alice just shrugs her shoulders.

"Oh, so I was right about the embroidery? Holy shit, I REALLY need to introduce you with the old oddball. –Don't get me wrong. He's a nice guy and all it's just… He's a tad different from everyone else. Black sheep or some shit. I wouldn't know actually. Grew up believing he was some kind of superhuman with the strength to take down any country he faced. Seems I was wrong." The blonde boy keeps on chatting, unconsciously running his hand through his blonde hair making his cowlick jump when he laughs. Somehow though, he realises the Englishwoman isn't answering. The American frowns and looks back at her focused expression. "Enough talking about me. Let's talk about you. So. Had a fight with your boyfriend?"

Angrily grumping, Alice shakes her head. She wonders how long it will take until the topic changes to «I'm so heroic» or «I know this weirdo» once more.

"Divorced?" She rolls her eyes. Was it that easy to figure out? "EH? I GUESSED RIGHT?!" Now what?! So it was just a guess?! Alice's grip around his hand tightens once more as she pushes his hand slightly over. But no chance for Alice. With a bright smile, Jones pushes her hand down in one swift movement.

That arse.

xxx

It's one of these peaceful nights when the bastard actually manages to stay quiet and just sits on the couch, with Lovina curled up next to him, watching an action movie. In other words; the perfect evening. –It's not that she enjoys cuddling with him or sticking close to him or anything. It's just nice to know he won't jump up and leave or come up with any hilarious idea like they should go and search for a place with fireflies so they can have a late-night pick-nick.

When the phone rings close to midnight, Lovina curses at the sound disturbing her from the movie and she throws a pillow at the Tomato Bastard sitting next to her, telling him to go shut the fucking thing up.

Trying to listen in on the conversation, she hardly understands much more than «Gilbert», «Alice» and «drunk». Knowing it can never mean a good thing when talking about the German and alcohol, the girl wonders what it means when he mentioned to the Englishwoman. Can't be that bad, can it?

"Lovina, I'll need to go drive Alice back home." The Bastard's brown haired head appears in the doorframe to say good-bye to her before she hears the door click and the car drive away. Great. So what now?

Already bored by the movie, Lovina looks around the room in search for something interesting. Lingering through the room, the teenager finds some matches, Old Italian magazines, recipes she printed out at random even though she would never follow them anyways. A dusty globe and a ship in a bottle. Even though trying how long it would take to set the globe or the ship in flames, the brunette would rather not deal with her father's reaction afterwards. Lovina decides to blow the dust of the globe anyways and almost chocks when a grey cloud rises from the shabby thing.

Taking a closer look, she realises how old the thing really is, showing countries she never heard off before. A place called «Prusia» for example immediately catches her attention because someone encircled the name and drew stars all around it. Why? But it's already too late to deeply think about something. If she really wants to know, she can ask the _idiota_ later.

Lovina decides the globe isn't any longer worth her attention, she changes to flipping through the magazines and laugh about the last-season clothes and the «latest gadgets» which no one would want to buy anymore and wonders, why the tomato bastard didn't throw the magazines away already. They date back like… five years? One of them even eight. Checking all dates, she realises the last one is about eleven years old. No eye-catching contents in this one either. More weird fashion and gadgets. Some articles about actor's no-one remembers, how to clean stained clothes, some artist's latest exhibition and the perfect way to cook pasta. Because she can't find anything of interest, Lovina dumps the magazines in the trash.

Boring.

Looking at the recipes, the South European wonders if she should cook something. Flipping through the sheets, she decides she'd rather not, because that would mean she needs to clean up afterwards. Therefore, Lovina throws the papers away as well.

However, Lovina is still bored. She looks around the room the something-thousandth time. The tomato-Bastard didn't return yet since he disappeared off to fetch Alice and drive her home. "What the hell is taking you so long, stupid bastard?" She grumbles as an idea comes to her mind. The picture. Feliciana's home screen background. Lovina's head snaps around and her eyes scan the empty living room. If the bastard kept a picture of her mum, where would he hide it? The girl squints her eyes as she tries to figure out where she might find any clues.

Searching in his bedroom would be the most effective way to do it, but she knows he would realise. If it's the living room however, Lovina can still say she was looking for something. An old DVD or something she didn't watch in a long time.

So, where could it be? Shelf? Drawers? The old picture album? –No, that would be too obvious, wouldn't it? Then again, it's her airheaded guardian we're talking about.

The teenager collects the album and the dusty envelope with all the pictures he never finished gluing in. The idiot kept saying he would one day finish it and show her the album, but the girl knew better than to believe he ever will. Therefore she might as well take a look by herself.

Opening it somewhere in the middle, the first thing the teenager spots is a ten-year old version of… Is that Alice? " _Bellina_!" Almost falling over in excitement about the cute strawy-haired kid, Lovina recognizes another familiar face. Oh. My. God. It's no chance denying it… THIS little, totally, freaking adorable boy… Feeling her cheeks heat up, the girl quickly turns the pages to search for a newer picture of her father. But nothing helps. He's still extremely cute. Even in his teens, this sparkly-eyed, fluffy haired brunette sunshine on legs is definitively her guardian. "Idiot, why does he look like he ate a fucking rainbow?" And no, she will NOT admit she would love to look at the pictures; especially not if she doesn't know when the _idiota_ comes back and might find her looking at his baby-pictures.

Flipping further through the pages, Lovina bursts out laughing at a comment the man added to another picture which shows him arguing with Alice next to one of the grin-like-an-idiot pictures of his. The slogan takes up half the side: «Bloody hell, why do you keep grinning like a fucking Cheshire cat?! Git.» Whoever knows the Englishwoman wouldn't even need to read the comment about who said this. It's obvious. Alice's perfect-fitting choice of words to skilfully point the _Bastardo's_ idiocy out.

More high school pictures follow. Tomato bastard, pervert bastard, potato bastard number… She forgot who was number one and who number two. Never mind. The older one. A group picture with random people Lovina might or might not have met before. Alice and the three idiots standing among other students at various places. More group pictures. And, of course more pictures displaying the three idiots in the weirdest context, making the teenager wish Alice was there to tell her the stories behind the odd scenes. WHAT did they do to end up smeared with colours all over? Who took the shot of the Pervert Bastard falling backwards of a ladder after being hit by a fry pan when he tried to climb into some house? What is the older Potato Bastard doing sitting in a pond with a lily pad on his head and a bunch of ducklings swimming around him? The Tomato Bastard and Alice in pirate-getup fighting each other with… rulers?

The brunette flips through the pages. Maybe she doesn't really want to know after all. Wait. HOW THE HECK did the three idiots manage to get locked in the monkey cage of the local zoo? The girl gives up. The chance of finding any serious pictures (except if Alice's in them) is close to zero. The next one which doesn't look as if stolen from a comedy movie is a group picture displaying the three idiots –of course- Alice, oh, Bella's brother (?) yeah, nobody else would walk around with such an odd hairstyle and some… Masked creep.

Lovina is glad the Tomato Bastard never finished this album. She always knew her guardian was a lost case, but this only confirms it. Even the pictures which look normal at first glance can't be taken serious. Somehow though, this is the last picture. He didn't continue to add any more pictures after this one.

Switching the TV back on, the brunette puts the album away and continues to flip through the photographs collected in the envelope. Apparently, most of them were taken after he graduated. The contents almost the same.

Deciding it's not worth flipping through them any longer, Lovina puts the pictures back as well and focuses her attention back to the movie. Why did she start looking at the pictures again? Vaguely remembering, the girl tries to recall the women's faces. There were many of them in the group pictures, but most didn't appear on any more than five shots. None to actually catch her interest either. In addition to that, none of the women resembled her.

In the corner of her eye, the girl realises one of the pictures slides down from the pile she put back on the shelf because she didn't go through the trouble of putting them back in the envelope. Sighting, the teenager gets back up to store the thing away, taking a glance at the picture as she holds it in her hand.

She probably shouldn't have.

xxx

Walking up to the front door with quick steps, Antonio frowns when the smell of alcohol, sweat and worse reaches his nose. Gilbert just had to choose such a gloomy place… Recognizing the door sign, his lips curl into a small grin when he recalls the memories and sometimes gaps in his memory connected to the place. Though he can't really agree whether it's the best or the worst of them all, one in particular never really leaves his mind. Thinking about the last time he came here with Alice tagging along, Antonio swings the door open to find himself faced with a rather familiar situation. Ludwig trying to get his brother to come down from the bar. Gilbert looking alarmingly tired yet refusing to accept the fact he is heavily drunk. Alice, debating without anyone in particular; with no one but air actually, an emotional wreck close to tears.

" _Bruder! Sei endlich vernünftig und komm da runter!_ " The blonde German's voice resounds through the room and the man sighs happily when the Spaniard appears in his field of vision. Nodding towards the blonde woman, the two silently agree who takes care of whom.

"The fuck you doing here, wanker." A glassy eyed Alice finally realizes Antonio standing next to her after he waves a hand in front of her face. Dashing an unfazed smile at the woman, the man calmly states how it is either Francis or him to come pick her up. "Don't you DARE call the cursed frog, you git!" The woman waves her pint, calling for another beer.

Gently locking a hand around the glass, Antonio informs the blonde it's time to go home.

"Lea 'me alone." Her weak attempt to shove his arm away only makes him fasten his grip around the tankard. He tries to lock eyes with her, but the drunkard turns away to chat with someone invisible. "You hear that? He won't allow me to continue drinking. Should I curse him?" As if waiting for an answer, the woman stares into space for a while before her lips curl into a smirk. Turning to face him again, Alice starts chanting incomprehensible words.

"That's it, we're leaving." Convinced the alcohol has definitely made her go nuts, Antonio swings an arm around the complaining and struggling woman's waist to drag-carry her outside.

" _Bin nicht müde! Schieße man!_ " Gazing back once more to the stoic siblings, the Spaniard knows it'll take quite some time until Ludwig manages to drag his brother outside. Judging by the amount of shouted German, they've been going at this for a while.

" _Bist du wohl! Jetzt hör auf zu trotzen und komm da runter!_ _Wir gehen!_ " Antonio pats the younger man's back to inform him of one drunkard less to worry about. " _Danke_ , Antonio." The German quickly nods before he returns to debating Gilbert out of sulking and walking up and down the bar.

" _Wenn du unbedingt gehen willst, geh alleine!"_

The blonde rubs his temples when the albino decides to jump from seat to seat instead, making his brother chase after him. "GILBERT!"

„Missus Buttercup! Long time no see!" The slurred words return his attention to the woman no longer fighting his strong grip. "Did you meet Brownie? He was here just a moment ago… You didn't? What a shame! Oh what a pity, you guys missed each other." Staring into space and happily chatting away, Alice doesn't complain when Antonio lifts her over his shoulder to carry her outside.

Trying to ignore her happy voice, Antonio frowns when he remembers the last time he saw her drunk. Still back in high school, it was the day of that weird bet Francis came up with. If he could reverse time, he would. And he would make sure it never happened. This day brought many realisations with it. To never go drinking with his friends and Alice, as well as Sadic and Tim. Make sure the Turk and the Dutch never meet, whether they're sober and even the more so if they're drunk. And never, NEVER agree to one of Francis' bets without knowing his real motives.

He had to learn that the hard way.

Antonio smiles sadly upon remembering and pushes the door of the pub open. Time to leave this place. He steps out and realises how chilly it is.

Suddenly surrounded by cold air and streetlights, the blonde looks up and tries to shift her position. Her attention pulled away from her imaginary companion, the Englishwoman seems to partly realize the situation she is in. "GIT! PUT ME DOWN!" Her voice suddenly sounds clear. Trying to hold on to the woman struggling, Antonio decides to put her back to the ground.

"Can you walk?" If she's sober enough to do so, this would make things a lot easier for him. Or so he thinks.

"Fucking wanker! Where do you think you're taking me?" She launches onto him, trying to hit him with an unexpected strength even though it looks like she's having a hard time only standing on her own feet.

" _Querida_ , I'm here to take you back home. So let's just get in the car and…" Against his hope to meet a tired Alice who just wants to go home, the woman starts fighting his arms as if her life depended on it.

"No way am I going to get in!" –It seems they will have to do this the complicated way.

xxx

It's warm. And comfortable. But fucking… Alice snaps her eyes open and tumbles over her feet. She feels sick. Really sick

"Watch your step, _Querida_." A gentle arm secures her and the Englishwoman finally realises she is not alone. Registering someone next to her, Alice lifts her head to see who.

"Ah, bloody hell." The blonde sighs and turns her head to look down again. If she could only walk by herself, she would immediately struggle out of his arms. But her feet are really unstable, so that would be a bad idea. She turns away instead, hoping to bring at least some distance between them. Alice yelps when the man pulls her closer again when he realises the woman tries to push him away. Hearing the Englishwoman grump unhappily at his action, Carriedo seems to realise she is back to her senses. He hums happily, ignoring her grumbled curses. "Where are we going?"

"Home" is the simple answer. Good. Turning her head once more, Alice tries to recognize their surroundings. Maybe it's the alcohol numbing her senses or she really doesn't recognize this place. Before she can even ask, Carriedo explains it's a shortcut.

Shortcut. Good. Because she only wants to go home and… vomit. The blonde squints her eyes when she feels nauseous. Oh how she hates it. This feeling when… At last second, the Spanish git manages to help her turn around and holds her hair back so she can let it all out. All the ale she fed her nerves and her desire to escape reality gushes out in one go. Or rather in many. Retching again and again, she tries to ignore the feeling when the liquid leaves her throat.

Soon after, it's over.

Panting, Alice tries to balance her weight with one hand pressed against a wall. Leaning over, she still smells everything and wishes she had the strength in her legs to get up and walk away. Something rustles next to her and a warm hand is placed on her shoulder. Carriedo. Is he ready for the finishing blow? Because right now she's at her weakest. Would be an easy win.

"Are you ok?" The blonde glances over her shoulders to spot his worried expression while handing her a pack of tissues and a bottle of water.

Shit.

The arsehole can actually sympathize with his enemy and play nice once in a while. What a two-faced bastard. Narrowing her eyes, the Englishwoman takes the offered assistance to clean herself up. Gargling and spitting out the last water, she feels her strength return and tries to get up.

However, Alice has to realise she is still too week and her mind still to fuzzy to manage any more than getting up and leaning against the wall. She sighs. "This reminds me of high school."

Somehow, she wishes she could go back. Back to the time when her world was still so full of opportunities as if she were a captain on a ship. Nothing but open sea all around her, giving her the opportunity to steer her ship in every direction she wanted. Life however she wanted. And whenever someone bothered her, she could kick them off board. The only obstacles some occasionally ship they could seize or another pirate ship to fight against and rid of all its collected treasures before it sinks into the depth, leaving nothing but few wooden planks swimming on the once more open sea.

Antonio's happy laughter brings her back to reality realising that she did not just sink him. Unfortunately, he's still there. –Carriedo, not Antonio. Bad old habits. If the git didn't happen to ruin her mood since their childhood, she wouldn't even know him. Which would have been easier. "If you only hadn't discovered the large playground with the ship, my life would have been a lot happier."

The laughing immediately stops. Carriedo secures his arm around her waist again to pull her back on her feet. "Now, now. No hard feelings. Let's get you home." A bit too close to her liking, the git helps her to continue walking. His idiot grin stays smeared on his face even if it doesn't light his eyes. The Englishwoman turns to look away from him again. She doesn't want to have to admit she might have actually gone too far.

Still feeling fuzzy, it's difficult to think of anything that would get her mind off of his weird look and reaction to her comment. Or the fact he is sticking to her this closely. Clingy. Was he always this clingy? Francis certainly was. Francis. Bloody hell. She didn't want to think about him. "Yeah, back in high school, life was definitively still better." Alice turns to look back at Carriedo. His smile faded and he's focusing the road ahead. For a second, a small yet sad smile reflects in his expression before it disappears again. "That was before my relationship with Francis." Now his face breaks out into a short grin before he frowns to look at her.

"He's still my best friend, you know?" Carriedo ruffles her hair and looks as if talking to a pouting teenager, ignoring the woman's complaints. "I know he's an idiot. But you really loved him back then, didn't you?" Alice rolls her eyes and turns away. She's not Lovina. She's an adult. But yeah, she did actually love the French frog back then. Somehow. Maybe. "No «maybe». We all know you did." His grin widens again. Either it's her fuzzy mind once more or the grin really gives off a fake feeling. "You wouldn't have married him otherwise." A super sparkly smile hiding something.

Or she's over-interpreting things.

The Englishwoman turns away so she doesn't have to see the look which comes after this smile. Only for a split second. Showing, what he actually thinks.

She doesn't want to know.

Too tired to think about it anyways.

xxx

Waiting for Antonio to return home, Lovina is about to doze off, when a loud thump makes her jump from the couch. –Not jumping because she's taken by surprise, just too… To be ready to fight back in case someone attacks. Yeah. The girl slowly approaches the door and no, she's not scared. And she is not turning for the kitchen to get a knife to protect her in case it's a robber, she's just checking if there's still some dinner left.

"Lovi?" When the muffled voice reaches her ear, the teenager releases a sigh of relief and turns for the door, scolding him for not opening the door by himself.

"Don't you have a key, fucking… Alice?" Face to face with a half-asleep Englishwoman, Lovina turns to blink up at the tomato Bastard. "What happened?!"

"Beer happened…" The man sighs and explains how she started to accuse him of kidnapping when he tried to get her in the car to driver her home. It was either walking or spending the night at the police station. "So I thought it would be easier to bring her back here. It's a lot closer than her place."

Wrinkling her nose at the smell coming from the drunk woman, Lovina shakes her head. "No."

"But Lovi~" The Bastard starts whining like he always does when trying to talk her into something. "We can't just leave her outside. You can sleep in my bed and let her sleep in yours." The man explains, trying to convince the teenager his bed is bigger so they would have enough space like that.

"Let her sleep on the couch." Tomato Bastard complains he couldn't let a woman sleep on his couch. "Then let her sleep in your bed, damn it!" Tomato Bastard complains they wouldn't both fit in Lovina's bed. "Then you fucking sleep on the damned couch."

"Roma~" Wrapping his arm around the woman's waist to lift her over the doorstep, Lovina realizes how slim Alice is for the first time. She looks so fragile. And WHAT are those clothes?! "You would sleep in the same bed as me when you were younger." Still debating about who sleeps where, the teenager finally gives in to help Antonio carry the blonde woman upstairs.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **German:**

Thinking about the last time he came here with Alice tagging along, Antonio swings the door open to find himself faced with a rather familiar situation. Ludwig trying to get his brother to come down from the bar. Gilbert looking alarmingly tired yet refusing to accept the fact he is heavily drunk. Alice, debating without anyone in particular; with no one but air actually, an emotional wreck close to tears.

" _Brother! Stop acting stupid and get down there!_ " The blonde German's voice resounds through the room and the man sighs happily when the Spaniard appears in his field of vision. Nodding towards the blonde woman, the two silently agree who takes care of whom.

"The fuck you doing here, wanker." A glassy eyed Alice finally realizes Antonio standing next to her after he waves a hand in front of her face. Dashing an unfazed smile at the woman, the man calmly states how it is either Francis or him to come pick her up. "Don't you DARE call the cursed frog, you git!" The woman waves her pint, calling for another beer.

Gently locking a hand around the glass, Antonio informs the blonde it's time to go home.

"Leave me alone." Her weak attempt to shove his arm away only makes him fasten his grip around the tankard. He tries to lock eyes with her, but the drunkard turns away to chat with someone invisible. "You hear that? He won't allow me to continue drinking. Should I curse him?" As if waiting for an answer, the woman stares into space for a while before her lips curl into a smirk. Turning to face him again, Alice starts chanting incomprehensible words.

"That's it, we're leaving." Convinced the alcohol has definitely made her go nuts, Antonio swings an arm around the complaining and struggling woman's waist to drag-carry her outside.

" _I'm not tired! Shit!"_ Gazing back once more to the stoic siblings, the Spaniard knows it'll take quite some time until Ludwig manages to drag his brother outside. Judging by the amount of shouted German, they've been going at this for a while.

" _Yes you are! Now stop pouting and get down here. We're leaving."_ Antonio pats the younger man's back to inform him of one drunkard less to worry about. " _Thank you_ , Antonio." The German quickly nods before he returns to debating Gilbert out of sulking and walking up and down the bar.

" _If you want to leave so bad, go alone!"_

The blonde rubs his temples when the albino decides to jump from seat to seat instead, making his brother chase after him. "GILBERT!"

 **xxx**

 **USUK:**

 **I didn't plan for them to meet. Or for Alfred to appear as more than just a character who passes by. It just happened. Must be his heroic aura which just needs to be mentioned in a story and can't be summed up with few words. Nope, he needs a whole page for himself ;)**

 **I know that UK is supposed to even get aggressive when drunk. I chose to stick to the melancholic and competitive part. Aggressive somehow didn't find a place in this part, sorry.**

 **xxx**

 **Two face:**

 **IDK, but Spain strikes me as the type of person who isn't always all smiles. Even Himapapa describes his other side as someone you wouldn't want to mess with.**

 **For a person who is always all smiles and laughing from the depth of their heart as well as really empathic, I think they wouldn't want to worry the people around them when they don't feel like smiling. And might glaze it over with a wide smile while they are broken inside.**

 **Thus I described it as the «showing his real thoughts for a split second or when nobody watches»- thing. While Alice knows him long enough to see through his mask.**

 **If u think that's OOC, feedback ;) I don't bite. I'd rather you tell me what you think is bad, so I can improve ^^**

 **xxx**

 **Greetings, Himawari**


	23. Does being stubborn count?

The first thing Alice's brain cells register is the soft cloth under her hand. Then the headache.

"Fuck you, Gilbert." Groaning in pain, the blonde turns in the sheets and holds her head. Why the fuck didn't she close the curtains last night? Stupid sun blinding her. Her hand reaches for her fluffy unicorn stuffy sitting next to her pillow and finds… nothing. "Celestabellebethabelle?" The magical creature plushie is not where she is supposed to be. Slowly opening her eyes, Alice takes in her surroundings.

Dark brown wooden window frame. Tomato pillow. Mess of clothes sitting on a dark brown chair.

NOT her room.

Alice immediately regrets almost jumping out of bed, cursing at the headaches. Where the fuck is she?! She remembers about as much as ranting to Gilbert about her cursed family situation and his advice to finally go buy Mattie a phone. Then the annoying American…Err… The song and… competing with random people. What happened after that? No way in hell is this messy room part of the Beilschmidt's house. The hungover blonde balances her weight on the bedpost, and squirts her eyes to look out of the window. Is that a tomato lawn?

Oh. No.

Before taking time to inspect the teenager's room any further, Alice stalks over sheets and books spread out all over the floor towards the door. Slowly opening it, the blonde faces another dark brown door just across the small hallway. Most likely not the bathroom. Looking around for another door, Alice discovers one at the end of the hallway just next to the steps. That must be it.

If this really is the Carriedo household –God forbid, she'd rather avoid meeting either of them now. Fondling with her somewhat still white shirt, the woman inhales the not so charming smell of sweat and vomit. Gosh, she NEEDS to take a shower. And get changed. Cursed Spaniard. Why didn't he drive her home?! Slowly opening the door, Alice tries her best not to make any sounds but has to suppress a curse when she glances around the room. Apparently, not this one, but the other door leads to the washroom.

Nuzzling up close to her guardian, Lovina's brown mess of hair is hardly visible under the blanket. Carriedo quietly snores, his arm comfortably placed under his daughter's head. He's not wearing a shirt… No. scratch that. Time to leave!

Lovina shifts, making a complaining grumble escape from the Spaniard. As if afraid she might escape him, the brown haired man places his other arm around her shoulders, unconsciously pulling the blanket back and reviling his daughter's face. Then he continues snoring. Lovina squints her eyes and snuggles closer to her father's chest.

After another glance to ensure they are both still asleep, Alice slowly draws back, closing the door again and turning for the next one. This time, it is the bathroom where the blonde woman tries to fix her horrible appearance and allows herself to borrow a shirt from Lovina. Fighting with her strawy hair, the Englishwoman curses when she hears sounds coming from the room next door, most likely the early morning bickering of the two lovebirds.

She needs to get out of here. Quickly.

xxx

Complaining as the comfortable warmth is moving away from his stomach, Antonio grumbles and opens one eye. Light green eyes staring back at him, the man remembers how he finally managed to convince Lovina to sleep in his room. Though it took quite some time and a lot of effort to convince his daughter not to kick him out of bed, the girl somehow calmed down next to him and, half asleep, didn't even complain when he pulled her into a hug.

Now however, said teenager is fully awake and is; to word it nicely, completely displeased with him lying that close. " _Buenos_ _días_ _, pequeña_." The man hums against her messy hair, completely ignoring her scolding.

"Fuck off, _Bastardo_." The girl shoves his head away from hers, but can't really fight against his arms wrapping around her torso once more. She's so cute!

" _No te vayas todavía, linda_ " Grumbling his displeasure for trying to sneak away, Antonio secures the grip around her to make sure she stays. "It's a Saturday. No need to rush out of bed."

Considering the idea, Lovina stops struggling for a bit and actually relaxes. Then her head darts up again. "ALICE!" The Spaniard grumbles unhappily. Why does he lose against Alice again? Lovina is HIS baby!

Unfortunately, the girl doesn't seem to care. Struggling free from his embrace, the brunette marches across the room and leaves through the door to go check on their guest.

Why, oh just why did he raise her to take good care of guests? Especially on cuddly Saturday mornings.

"Make some coffee for me too!" Antonio manages to grumble before he pulls the blankets back. Can't really turn up looking like this with a woman in their house. Quickly throwing on whatever he can find, the brunette man only so much as glances at his reflection before shuffling downstairs. Knowing his childhood frenemy, the Englishwoman will flee from the house as soon as she can manage. Might as well try to keep her here for some breakfast. Still fondling with the buttons of his shirt, Antonio turns around when he hears the bathroom door open at the other end of the hallway, revealing a tired looking Alice. " _Buenos días, querida_." He hums at her startled expression and happily invites her to stay for a cup of coffee.

"Tea, wanker." Regardless of the obvious headache Alice nurses, her eyes narrow to show him she will not let her guard down in his presence. Then the woman turns for Lovina's bedroom; her expression immediately soften when she enters to room and spots the teenager. After wishing her a good morning, the Englishwoman explains why she borrowed one of the shirts. –Which is surprisingly well-fitting, yet a bit short for the adult. However, combined with her black skirt, it just looks great. Lovina seems to share his opinion; a perfect start off for the two women to chat about things he doesn't understand. The man sighs. –Girls.

Antonio decides to go downstairs and prepare some breakfast. The brown haired searches through the fridge and collects a nice bunch of tomatoes, dry cured ham and some toast. A bit of olive oil and garlic; the finishing touches for a lovely sandwich. Maybe not the Englishwoman's choice of foods, but delicious enough to eat once in a while; even with messed up taste-buds as hers. The Spaniard opens another cupboard and searches through the mess he hides behind the doors before he shrugs and closes them again. As for Alice's life-essence: her morning tea however, he can only offer a choice between coffee and _Té Nero._

xxx

A clicking sound indicates Carriedo closed the door of his room and after that his footsteps are hearable on the stairs.

"So." Lovina turns from fashion-talk to serious mode. Or at least that's how the Englishwoman interprets the uncertain look at the teenager's face. As if she didn't dare say anything, but then again looks… grumpy-worried…? Could that be it? "Why did you go drinking?"

Sighting, Alice remembers the last day's unpleasant events. The fight as well as her attempt to forget it. "Amelia came over." Rubbing her temples, the adult can't see the teenager's reaction.

However, her simple "Oh." Says more than a thousand words. "Let me guess. It didn't turn out well." Shaking her head, Alice grumbles she would most likely not be here if it turned out well. "You know, your daughter's quite the weirdo anyways." Lovina shrugs her shoulders and lets herself fall down on her bed. Sniffing on the bedding, the girl wrinkles her nose and throws the duvet in a corner. "I don't know what her problem was, but the eerie girl was sticking to Feli and me like glue."

"You don't say. She can annoy the hell out of me." Yes, Alice knows her daughter's interest in other people. But not everyone can deal with her sudden attachment to everyone. "As for her tendency to try and befriend everyone, that's just her. She's always been like this. Outgoing as heck but acting at a different pace than everyone else."

Lovina snorts in agreement. The girl continues grumbling about her encounter with Amelia for some time, glad Alice just listens and waits for her to finish her rant. It takes some while, but eventually, Lovina quiets down but the Englishwoman didn't really learn a lot about what exactly happened.

xxx

The first thing Matthew spots when he enters the room is a black something coming flying at his face. Shrieking slightly, the boy jumps back and picks the black marker up for further inspection.

"Ups." The short sound is the only indication of his sister's presence. The girl sits curled up on her improvised couch, headphones in and a collection of pens piling up next to her. Amelia takes a marker, removes the lid and throws it towards the wall next to the door. The pen hits the wall and lands next to Matthew's feet with a clattering sound. "Missed." The blonde boy turns to see the black cross his sister painted on the white wall. The colourful dots and lines next to it show how many times she almost hit the centre of the cross. And how many pens she threw so far.

"And how do you intend to hide this?" The boy sighs and sits next to his sister. The girl doesn't react. She picks up another pen and grumbles in disagreement when he unplugs her headphones. The display shows the cover of Bon Jovi's « _It's my life_ ». Looks like it didn't turn out well yesterday. Without saying anything, the freshman places the phone out of his sister's reach. Pouting, the girl turns to throw another marker. "What are you doing?"

"Throwing darts." Amelia watches another yellow dot being added to the collection. "Missed."

"You need to clean this up afterwards, you know?" The younger teenager gets up once more to start collecting the open pens, markers and crayons from the floor.

"Don't wanna."Sitting back down, Matthew starts a speed dating between lids and pens, hoping to find the matching pairs. "It's art. New Age or something."

"New Age art looks different." The boy tries pairing a green marker with a green lid. But somehow it just won't fit! But there are no other green… Except for the one in his sister's hand. "And gimme that marker." Amelia sighs but places the pen in his palm. Happy with his find, the boy closes the pen and ads it to the pile of found matches. "I don't really need to ask how it went with _Maman,_ eh? Are you over it yet?"

A frustrated gargle marks the last warning his sister is close to an outburst before she bends forwards, grumbling "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUUUCK! I was THIS close to get it out of my mind."

"I'm here to listen whenever you feel like talking." Now, for the first time today, Amelia looks at him. Looks at her brother with tired blue eyes. The anger in her voice contrasting to her sleep-deprived looks. She must have been agonizing over it all night long.

However, contrary to his expectation, his sister doesn't start ranting for hours but just curls up next to him and rests her head on his shoulder. Mattie pats her blonde hair and waits for the girl to speak up. Then she relieves a long sigh. "Looks like we will go our separate ways for now."

Matthew gently rubs her back, trying to find some comforting words. But he doesn't know what to say to lift his sister's spirit. " _Désolé._ " But the girl shakes her head.

"It's… Fine. I mean, neither of us wants to and take a first step towards the other. Unless we both give in and try to understand and accept the fact that we're different, nothing's gonna happen." Then she continues to stare at her latest piece of art, looking as if she wanted to say something else. Matthew waits a bit longer but realises she doesn't want to talk about it yet.

"Whatever happens, I'll still be here." He whispers against her blonde locks. His sister looks tired. And one her star shaped pins is missing. The boy caresses some hair behind her ear and slowly leans back on the couch as to not wake her up. "And you know I will also be here for _Maman_." As she hears him say this, the girl finally smiles. Amelia shift and finally relaxes next to him.

"Thanks."

Mattie waits until he hears her soft snore. "I'll be here." And kisses her on her hair.

xxx

Leaning back on the windowsill, Alice takes another look through the room. Wooden furniture and clothes spread on them. Pictures of friends and family stuck all over the walls and the wardrobe. Some plants sitting on a shelf. A little something catches the Englishwoman's attention.

"What is it?" Sitting back up again, Lovina tries to figure what Alice is looking at. "Ah. Those are _castagnette_. The tomato- _bastardo_ bought them for me."

Castanet? If she remembers right, they were used for… "Lovina, do you dance?"

This seems to have caught the teenager's attention. Leaning forward with a shit-eating grin, the girl nods. "Heck yeah, I can dance. If there's one thing the tomato-bastard actually managed to teach me, it's cooking and dancing."

"And gardening." It's kind of difficult to keep your smile hidden when faced with Lovina's unique character. Especially her confidence-radiating side. Somehow, Alice feels comfortable around the teenager even though she can't figure her out. What will she do next? It's beyond everyone's knowledge. She might be pissed all of a sudden or beam with confidence before she stumbles over her own feet. Or a banana peel. You never know.

Falling back on her bed, Lovina stretches her arms and yawns. "Ah, yeah. That too." She takes one of the tomato pillows and plays with it, grumbling: "And what about you?"

"Me?" Not really knowing what the teenager is talking about, Alice blinks at the messy brown head appearing behind the red pillow as Lovina sits back up once more and rewords her question about what Alice actually managed to teach her kids.

Wrong question. Alice runs her hand through her still damp hair, trying to think of a good answer. "Does being stubborn count?"

Lovina answers with a chuckle. "Maybe. So you would describe yourself as stubborn? Stoic for sure." She teases.

The Englishwoman frowns. She didn't expect Lovina to accuse her of being stubborn. Or stoic. Even though she had to admit the teenager has a point. "Stubborn… Certainly. Stoic…" Her eyes wander through the room as if searching for an excuse. However, the only thing which distracts her is the snorting coming from the mattress. Alice huffs in complaint and decides it's not necessary to say anything else about the other adjective. "Neither is a nice attitude to teach your kids." Alice sighs. And Lovina snorts again, adding how, in her opinion it's only Alice who's stoic.

But, what else might she have taught them? Cooking has never been her forte and baking… Well, she's not bad, but Francis… Never mind. Neither of her kids are interested in gardening or embroidery, fantastic beings or collecting old coins. At least Mattie likes reading. But he doesn't prefer English literature. Lovina just shrugs her shoulders. "Doesn't have to be hobbies. What about…Eh, I can't think about things which don't annoy me about Amelia…" Lovina rolls over the bed and shifts to a sitting position, placing her bare feet on the floor. She stares at the Englishwoman with her green eyes for a while. "Didn't you say you and Amelia were polar opposites or something like this? Well… If you're polar opposites how about this one: She's good at the things you're bad at but somehow managed to be bad at the things you're good at?"

Alice is glad the teenager doesn't continue looking at her as if expecting an answer but starts fondling with her clothes instead, giving the adult the time she needs to process these new thoughts.

When Lovina spots a little spray-bottle in the bag Alice forgot next to the bed, the teenager fishes for it. A quick asking look while holding up the vial and a «go ahead» nod by the Englishwoman is the only interaction before the blonde starts to sort her thoughts out.

Something like «opposite sides of the same coin»? Together they would make the perfect human? What a cheesy remark. But it does somewhat make sense. The question is, if it could actually work out. To focus on the strength of the other person and oneself; rather than the weaknesses. Because it's always easier to point out the bad things.

The Englishwoman frowns as she stares out of the window. If it were someone else who said that, she would have most likely shut the speaker off with a witty comment. The brown haired girl however continues doing whatever just after she dropped the insight. And after adjusting her outfit, the teenager appears next to Alice handing her bag to the Englishwoman and starts to wonder what she wants to have for breakfast.

The adult smiles at the easy going act of the teenager. The girl knows problems need to be addressed, but also knows avoid talking about things which make others or herself feel uncomfortable. Such a nice ability. It would have been a shame if Alice didn't meet Lovina.

Maybe, but just maybe she needs to thank Carriedo for letting them meet.

But it's not like he did it for them.

Alice throws the thought aside. It was just pure luck. Two people who somehow managed to get along met by some cruel turn of fate. Or, in other words; two people were forced to spend time with each other and realized the other's company isn't half as bad.

xxx

Watching the Englishwoman walk down the stairs in front of her, Lovina thinks about how weird this actually is. How comes she's friends with the mum of a fellow student? They're even in the same year.

She never really thought about it. But seeing these pictures of the tomato bastard together with the blonde made her realize... Alice and Lovina's age difference is about twenty years. The Englishwoman is the same age as... Her father.

" _¡_ _Buenos días!_ " The familiar voice calls even more bubbly than usual. Lovina frowns. With a critical expression, she watches the brunette's eyes light up when he spots Alice. Happily ignoring her complaints, he invites... or maybe rather he forces the blonde to stay for breakfast, gently pushing her to sit on a chair. "I prepared some Sandwiches."

Lovina raises an eyebrow at the sight of the Spaniard's odd behaviour and watches her English friend starting to debate against having breakfast. "I've already caused you enough trouble..." She tries to talk herself out of staying.

But Lovina knows better. She shuffles over to the kitchen island, inspecting the tomatoes the bastard brought inside this morning. "Give up, Alice." The teenager decides on the biggest, roundest fruit and takes a bite. "No chance trying to escape South European hospitality. Just sit and eat. It's the easiest way to avoid endless discussions." Then she slides down next to the blonde adult with a smug grin.

North Europeans. Maybe it's just her, or they have trouble loosening up.

"Ah, Lovi. Could you bring some plates?" The teenager grumbles. Why should she? Why can't he go get them himself?! "But Roma... I'm still chopping tomatoes." And the puppy eyes. " _Per favor_?" –Oh how she lov… loathes this face!

"Just this once, _idiota_." Lovina rolls her eyes, causing Alice to giggle and the tomato bastard straighten up in an odd way to stare at the Englishwoman with an irritated look. Lovina turns away from the sight. –She'd rather not think too deeply about it.

The picture she found yesterday pops up in her mind.

No.

This would be too weird to be true. Just way to...

"But _Pequeña_ , not these plates. They're too big. I meant the small ones." The bastard appears right behind her, causing the girl to jump. Just why the fuck does he need to approach her in such a sneaky way?! "Lovi. Mind your language, we've got a guest."

"Huh?" She didn't even get started. "That's nothing."

"Roma..." Whining, the man takes the plates out of her hands to put them back. The girl grumps and turns to leave. If he's here, why bother taking out the other plates? "Roma, did you put on a new perfume?"

Oh no.

Before she can even react, a strong arm locks around her waist, keeping the struggling teenager close to him. Knowing another person is here doesn't seem to bother him. No. He gladly continues holding her close to his warm body, sniffing her hair and humming happily. If she could just escape his embrace, she would maybe slap him.

"It's not mine, it's Alice's!" With a quick movement, the teenager tears away from his arms. "It's Alice's…"

Lovina remembers THIS picture again. The one picture that fell out when she put the album away. It was zoomed in to show only one person: Alice, happily smiling while holding onto the arm of someone. Most likely Francis, but the man on her side was left out of the picture. More than that, the photograph looked as if it had been crumpled and reopened again.

What exactly does the tomato bastard think about the ex-wife of his best friend?

She glances over to the woman in question. At least she knows Alice isn't her mum. At that time, she was pregnant with Amelia; so it's not possible. But if he had a crush on Alice, what about HER mum?

"Lovi, are you all right?" The tomato bastard suddenly appears in her field of vision, a worried look replacing his characteristic smile. Not sure what to answer, the teenager nods and walks over to the kitchen table. She glances over to the brown haired man, glad to see his worried expression changed back to a smile.

Even so, she can't help but realize how unusually happy he is; trying his best to repress his overdubbing joy. Something he only ever does when something which; or someone who caught his attention is within reach.

In other words, it might be true: His childhood crush is sitting at his kitchen table, pouting about «being held captive» while hiding how much she enjoys the food he cooked.

-What if he still likes her?

Too unsure what to think about or how to react, the teenager tries to find a way to escape the weird situation. She needs to process this new thought. Then, she remembers. "The car!" Without another word, Lovina jumps up and runs around the house in search of the tomato bastard's jacket, praying he put the keys in there. When she finds them, the girl doesn't hesitate and dashes off towards the door. "Where did you say you parked the car?"

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Spanish:**

 _Buenos días, pequeña = Good morning little one_

 _No te vayas todavía, linda = Stay, cute one_

 _Buenos días, querida = Good morning dear_

 _Té Nero = Spanish black tea_

" _¡_ _Buenos días! =Good day/ Good morning_

 **Italian :**

 _Bastardo = bastard_

 _Castagnette = castanet_

 _Idiota = idiot_

 **French**

 _Désolé = I'm sorry_

 _Maman = mum_

 **Just me:**

Should I continue doing it like this? Translate every single thing, or is that too much. What do you think?

 **xxx**

 **Celestabellebethabelle:**

 **I didn't watch Gavitiy Falls. My twin did and kept on talking about it. I just loved the name of the unicorn, so I had to put it here. ^^ Ne, Fi-ne ;)**

 **In other words: Disclaimer: I don't own neither the name nor the character.**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Don't have a lot to talk about this time.**

 **I'll just take the opportunity to ask for reviews ^^ It'd be really helpful if I got some feedback. PM or review, whichever u prefer.**

 **And I don't mind criticism, as long as it's constructive criticism or motivating me to overthink some things. ;) They're really helpful! I want to get better after all; and I want you guys to be able to enjoy this story :D**

 **Have a lovely week**

 **-Himawari**


	24. You can actually give helpful advice

**A/N**

 **Please read AN at the end. Thx**

 **xxx**

Without another word, the teenager rushes outside, leaving two startled adults behind; both trying to realise what just happened. "Ah _, ¡Gracias pequena!_ I forgot about the car…" Carriedo doesn't seem to realize the girl can't hear him anymore. Alice has to suppress a chuckle as he ruffles the back of his hair and shows an apologizing smile towards the closed door. "It's still at the pub…"

Taking another sip of –whatever this excuse of black tea is called, Alice takes her time to look around the room. Might as well, because anything is better than having to sit at the same table as the Spanish git.

Glancing around, the room gives off the exact feeling one would expect from Carriedo's place: Simple, but home. A few dark and mostly functional rather than beautiful old pieces of furniture, a comfy but used couch with loads of pillows sitting on it. A cuddling blanket lying all messed up on one of the armrests. Only few things hint of the presence of a girl. Some ribbons forgotten here and there. A stack of fashion magazines sitting at the tea table next to the couch. And pictures.

Stopping in front of the wall covered with little frames, Alice chuckles when she realises some of them are missing the glass. Remembering her scattered pot, she easily figures this to be clumsy Lovina's doing.

"Cute, aren't they?" The head of the house suddenly appears behind her, his voice bubbling with glee and pride. Even though she doesn't like him standing that close, the Englishwoman has to agree with him. Really adorable: Baby Lovina screaming in her father's arm. Baby Lovina; maybe seven months' old, sitting on some grass, chewing on a wooden toy-tomato. -Seriously? Toddler Lovina asleep on the back seat of his car. Toddler Lovina grabbing her father's trousers and looking away, pouting. Her eyes trace over the pictures showing the Spaniard with his little girl at age zero to five. The background varies from picture to picture; but there is another confusing fact about them:

"Why did you dress her like a boy? –And do not go for the excuse «because it's cute»!"

Laughing awkwardly, Carriedo evades her eyes. She guessed right.

Shaking her head in disbelief, another frame catches her eyes. Hung way lower than the rest of them, the dark wood outlines some colourful circles and spots. Most obviously the artwork of a kindergartener trying out her new wax crayons on the wallpaper. "You framed her doodles on your wall?!" The Englishwoman exclaims and declares him to be a lost nutcase. –Because only the combination of «lost case» and «nutcase» could describe this idiot parent.

"It's the only drawing I could keep. She hardly ever drew." Watching him laugh at the memory, the woman shakes her head and wonders how one could be so easy-going all the time. Turning to look at the rest of the pictures again; –these newer ones showing Lovina wearing girl's clothes, Alice asks how the Spaniard manages to get along with his daughter, even with her character being the complete opposite of his own. And still love her unconditionally. "Don't really know." He grins sheepishly and rubs the back of his head. "But when I saw that little human being scream at the top of her lungs just after she was born, I couldn't help but think all she needs is someone who loves her."

Alice frowns. "So you were there? When she was born?" The Spaniard's green eyes stay focused on the pictures when he answers with a smile.

"I was." Then he finally turns with some weird flicker of irritation in his eyes. "At around the same time you were there for a check-up. Even though…" He stops mid-sentence to stare at the pictures.

Opening her mouth to ask more about the circumstances, Alice suddenly remembers something else, which doesn't feel right. Narrowing her eyes, the Englishwoman fixes the Spaniard's uncharacteristically calm face. "Then why did you disappear right after that? You were gone off to God knows where just after we met you again. Francis was worried sick, you know!" Five years. The Spaniard disappeared for five years and came back with a little girl. No one ever questioned where the kid came from, but everyone thought he brought her back from his travels. They didn't know she was born here. –This doesn't make sense.

The man keeps his eyes locked with hers. Glaring green orbs refusing to show her what he thinks. His voice also void of all emotion, it's clear he doesn't want to talk about it. "I know. Francis told me." The refusing expression disappears and changes to a neutral face. Alice knows the topic is over and Carriedo will no longer allow her to ask any further. No chance getting any new information now. The brown haired man raises an eyebrow. "But I thought you don't care about Francis anymore? Was I wrong?"

The frog again. Huffing at the comment inquiring about her decision to part ways with the pervert, Alice decidedly folds her arms. She does not want to discuss this matter with a friend of her ex-husband. Time for HER to change topics.

"Gilbert often came over to rant about your disappearance too, you know? I had a hard time whenever he suddenly turned up to mess around with Amelia or fuss about baby Matthew and complain how he didn't hear from you again."

"I can guess… It never gets boring with Gilbert sticking around." Antonio accepts her attempt to talk about something else, but Alice regrets having to let this rare opportunity to inquire about those five years slide and their conversation comes to a pause.

He doesn't want to give in and neither does she. But it is not her task to meddle with another family's business. The only one who should is Lovina herself.

She's got her own family's problems to deal with.

xxx

Antonio continues looking at the pitures. So cute. So precious. His treasure, his baby girl. The two of them went through a lot. They faced many obstales together. –But now… What if she doesn't want to face them together with him any longer, if he tells her?

The Spaniard turns to face his blonde guest. Personified stubbornnes and pride. With a perfectly straight position, Alice firmly holds her cup and continues looking at the pictures with an almost expressionless face and eyes lost in thought. She looks worried.

"You must hate to admit it, but we're way more simmilar than on could think." The moment he speaks, the brown haired man realises his mouth just worked faster than his brain. He sees Alice's eyebrow twitch and, knowing her, he can guess how calling the two of them «alike» must sound like one of the worst insults to her. She hates him after all. "Well, at least when it comes struggles with our kids."

Her frown deepens as he tries to reword his thoughts and she still refuses to turn and face him. The Englishwoman keeps her posture as her words cut through the room: "Your trouble could be solved easily: Tell her the truth."

That's not what he wanted to hear. But he has to admit she is right. Partly. "Well, yes. But that wouldn't make the problems disappear, it would just cause new ones." The Spaniard nervously scratches the back of his head. "But I'm sure, in your case, talking things out would help." Apparently what he said was wrong again. Even though he knows how well she can handle conflict with words, it might be this only applies to putting out fires or getting people to shut up. But not to make teenagers understand her point of view.

The blone woman whirls around and her green eyes burn angrily. Pointing a finger at his chest, her brows narrow and her voice turns cold. "One's always better to give advice than to take them." Alice repeats his very words from a while ago, before she faces the other way again. "If it were that easy, I wouldn't be here. All talking did, was mess things up even more. So thank you for pointing that out." For the first time, it's neither her pride speaking nor her anger. It's just plain words coming out of her mouth. Her voice void of sound or emotion as if she was talking about some abstract theory, he finally learns what actually is going on: "Ever since the Frog and I announced our divorce, Amelia's been acting out. Doing whatever she felt like and explaining how she «wants to do things her own way». And… Never mind. To cut it short, she sees me as old fashioned hag who doesn't have a hunch of the modern world while Amelia herself acts as if she were a cyborg from a future area." As she continues to speak, the Englishwoman's voice slowly grows colder and her expression refusing. She folds her arms and her eyes pierce through the wall as she angrily stares at the distance. "All this comotion and our constant fights resulted in her deciding to move out."

" _¡¿Cómo?!_ "

"She moved out. Or, in other words, she actually ran away." Everything she tells him sounds so robotic. As if it happened to somebody else. Not to herself. "Plus I haven't seen Mattie since either."

"Mattie?" At this, Alice's mask finally crumbles and she releives at least seventy percent of her anger with a hissing sigh.

"My son?! The one who resembles the Frog a lot more than me? The one everyone tends to overlook?" At his question why she wouldn't get in contact with her son, Antonio realises it wasn't even seventy percent of her anger she released just now. Because there's still enough bad mood pent up so she can angrily… explain… (aka spit, hiss and growl at the same time) all kinds of reasons which keep her from doing that.

And they kind of make sense. But also don't. However, now he finally understands the bothersome situation Alice is caught in. Antonio takes some time to think. Then he gently places his hand on her shoulder. The Englishwoman is to exhausted from letting all her frustration out at him to actually slap it away. "Alice." And she is desparate. She doesn't want to show it. Doesn't want to admit it. And doesn't want anyone to help her solve her problems either. However, she seems ready to at least listen to some little advice. "So. I see why these things hinder you. But, other than that, what possibilities do you have?"

For a momet, neither of them speaks. Alice just quietly blinks and her starteled expression shows how she needs to think about his words first. "What… I mean…" Antonio surpresses the urge to refuse letting her go when she draws back from him but he knows she needs her space. "I never thought about it that way." A small spark returns to her eyes. A little, tiny ray of hope. A possibility.

The brunette feels a gentle warmth in his heart. He knows too well how precious these moments are. And how rare.

For her to show her feelings. Share her pain. Allow him to see her weak side. The one she stubbornly refuses to show to anyone. Though he isn't sure what mad her guard drop. She might still be feeling hung over. Or she might actually remember he supported her yesterday. Or… She might actually unconsciously challenge him to do the same? To speak? With Lovina...?

Whatever it is, he will keep this memory in his heart. And recall it whenever she refuses to let him come near her. Therefore he allows him to take another step and give some advice. "Just go do it. Don't think too much about it, Alice. The time you use thinking might be the time your kids need you at their side."

xxx

Alice sighs and wonders how he manages to make these things sound that simple. It really sounds easy if he says it. But… That's all. It SOUNDS easy while it's not. "You think this might actually work, even with people as stubborn as Amelia and myself?"

His warm, gentle laugh helps the Englishwoman forget her worries. He didn't just say this to cheer her up. It wasn't only plain words. These were his honest feelings. As if he told her «I know you can do that». The blonde refuses to look at him, but she knows his eyes are gently looking her way as he encourages her once more: "Isn't «stubborn» just another way to say «never leave your goals out of sight»?"

Alice turns to look out of the window to hide her smile and her warm cheeks. "So you can actually be serious and give helpful advice." She mutters more to herself than to him, partly remembering how Carriedo helped her last night.

The Spaniard continues working in the kitchen, laughing as he understands what the Englishwoman doesn't want to admit she said. " _Gracias_ " And beams one of his warm and open smiles at her. One of these smiles which make you wonder how someone could be so empathetic and big hearted and actually accept everyone they meet with such an open attitude. Isn't he afraid of getting hurt? Of being left behind? Of being betrayed? " _Querida_ , do you want another cup of tea?"

The Englishwoman frowns, looking at her empty cup. It's about time Lovina returned and this... «Beverage» Carriedo claimed to be tea doesn't really appeal to her tastes. "I must decline." Alice places her cup down and watches the clouds slowly passing by, just enjoying the calm atmosphere. In the corner of her eyes, she realizes Carriedo approaching to stand next to her.

The blue sky promises warm weather. Only few clouds pass by like ships floating through the air. Like flagships discovering the endlessness over the horizon. Gently, they float with silhouettes of birds soaring next to them. Calm and quietly, as if they look through a window to another world. What kind of fairies live there, letting themselves be carried by the warm winds?

Next to her, Carriedo doesn't seem to feel the urge to speak up. Mesmerized by the calming beauty of the endless blue, a small smile reflects on his lips as well as his eyes. Different from his typical happy smile she detests or his evil grin she loathes. Calm and somewhat dreamy.

"Thank you" She doesn't want to say any more than the words which escape her mouth. Not tell him she remembers him helping her out yesterday. Not tell him she is thankful for his insights when it comes to her fight with Amelia. Or how glad she is he motivated her to get in contact with Matthew no matter what.

His smile widens, but he doesn't reply. Doesn't ask what she means. Or ask her to repeat her words; as if knowing she detests doing that. Rather than saying anything, the Spaniard turns towards her but doesn't dare meet her eyes. He takes one of his pigtails in his hand instead and leans forward as if to...

"What are you...!?" Alice leans back to avoid his lips kissing her hair. Startled by the sudden action, she feels her face heat up but her brain refuses to do its job and come up with a calm and collected phrase to shoo him off. Curses is all she manages. "Fucking BLOODY hell, get your hands off me, you cursed Arsehole!" And more.

However, without another word, Carriedo dashes a bubbly smile at her and dances off to... Well, who fucking knows? Go grab something?

Leaving a flustered Englishwoman standing in his kitchen.

Bloody hell, what was that.

Alice, cheeks still burning, tries her best to calm her racing heart. This must have been some odd habit of his. Maybe something people in Spain do when another person thanks them. The Englishwoman brushes her hair back behind her shoulder and straightens her posture. Nothing to get cautious about. It's just Carriedo being his usual touchy-feely self; probably still half asleep and mistaking her for Lovina.

Exactly. Nothing to worry about.

xxx

Lovina braces herself to enter the house again. She almost forgot the reason she fled; simply enjoying the opportunity to drive by herself, ignoring every speed limit and rule as well as taking the longest way home she could manage.

But now the teenager wonders what scene might await her behind that dark brown door.

When she finally pushes it open, the sudden appearance of a brown haired something makes the girl jump back. "Roma! You're back already?" Before she can react, his strong arms lock around her as the _Bastardo_ pulls her inside.

"Let go, _Idiota_!" Trying to shove him away, the girl is glad to realize Alice approaches the two; holding her bag and quickly putting her shoes on. She's ready to go.

The Tomato Bastard however still fusses over her first time driving by herself and if everything went all right and so on. " _Gracias_ for getting the car. I'll drive Alice… Miss Kirkland home."

"No." What makes him think she would let him drive now?! "I drive."

"Lovi~" The whining begins, their debate starts. Who will drive? –Lovina, of course. Which is also why she tries her best to keep the keys out of the pouting _Bastardo's_ reach. "They called me to drive her home last night. So I should…"

"No, I drive." The teenager won't give up either. For a short while, the Englishwoman watches the game between father and daughter until her outstretched hand interrupts their debate to takes the decision from them: Alice will drive.

Exchanging a glance, the two brunettes follow the clicking of the blonde's shoes. The tomato Bastard nudges Lovina's shoulder and whispers: "Want to drive when we head home again?"

Sure! Though she wonders if he really his asked her, the girl does her best to hide sound as natural as possible: "Yeah, I'll drive. But didn't we have plans to go drive Go Kart?" The brown haired man's laughter resounds in Lovina's ears and she registers the blonde woman's irritated look before she opens the door and slides on the driver's seat.

" _Sí_ , Lovi. Let's head to Feli's place afterwards. Unless..." He opens the door "Al... Miss Kirkland, would you and your daughter care to join us this afternoon? We're going to a..."

But his offer is cut off before he can finish. "We do not." Though he does give up that easily, Lovina doesn't pay any attention to his attempts of talking Alice in joining them and the simple but clear way of the Englishwoman to turn him down. The teenager gets in the car and comfortably stretches her feet over the backseat. "Lovina, would you kind putting your feet down?"

"Huh?!" Lovina could have sworn Alice didn't even face het way. Grumbling unhappily, the brunette places one foot down.

"Both feet, dear." Yet again, Alice didn't even look back. "And secure your seatbelt. Please." Once more, Lovina does as she is told and ignores the _Idiota's_ astonished look. But how the heck can the Englishwoman know?! Does she have clairvoyance or something?!

"How do you do that?" The man regards Alice in wonder. "She wouldn't listen if I said anything."

Yeah, why does she listen? It's a mystery for herself as well.

"Simple. I drive – My rules." Then her voice lowers one note. "Same goes for you, Carriedo. Fasten your seatbelt." The man however doesn't immediately do as he is told and starts… Whatever he tries to say, Lovina doesn't want him to continue.

"Just do it, Bastard. Or I will look stupid." This argument works to stop his whining for a whole of five seconds he needs to take the black belt and adjust it before he opens his mouth again and continues talking about anything and everything.

"Thank you, Lovina."

Actually not just about anything. It's about Alice, of course: "I'm shocked! Miss Kirkland, I didn't know you could actually behave properly and thank a person that easily! Just like that!" Both women roll their eyes. Alice smirks as she realizes the teenager watches her through the rear-view mirror. The Spaniard keeps talking about whatever comes to his mind while the two women communicate making faces about whatever he says; Alice always quickly changing her face to a focused «I'm driving a car»-look whenever he turns to look at her.

xxx

Alice sinks down on her arm chair and exhales.

What was that?

Sure, it was a funny drive. Lovina making faces, thinking her father doesn't realize while Carriedo did his best to hide his laughter from his daughter. –Of course he saw them. The Spaniard also managed to bring up the weirdest Spanish children's songs and sing them in a very weird way to ensure the teenage girl won't get bored of trying out new grimaces.

But even before that… Before Lovina came back. What was that?

Carriedo's attempt to kiss her hair. Or his serious attitude, listening to her rants and giving actually helpful advice.

And, most of all… WHY did she even tell him about the situation with her kids?

Alice continues staring at the ceiling as if trying to find an answer in the white construction. They were talking about him being there when Lovina was born. Then changed topics. Alice ended up thinking about her own family problems. And the unknown past which connects Lovina to her father.

They are facing similar troubles, yes, but… Why did she tell him?

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Spanish:**

 _¡Gracias pequena!_ = Thank you, little one!

 _¡¿Cómo?!_ = What?!

 _Querida_ = Love

 **Italian:**

 _Bastardo_ =Bastard

 _Idiota_ = Idiot

 **xxx**

 **Alice driving**

 **No, that's not clairvoyance. That's just Alice in her mum-mode.**

 **xxx**

 **Just me and 2 w break**

 **Hi guys ^^**

 **I am really glad to see you keep reading my story! It's so motivating! THANK YOU!**

 **Even so, I think I'll take a two week time-out. Live's been keeping me pretty busy and I need a little break. I know it's not that much to write 1 chapter per week, but I'm trying to find times to recharge wherever I can.**

 **I will be back with the weekly updates by August 12.**

 **Take care of yourselves and I hope you can enjoy the summer weather!**

 **-Himawari ^^**


	25. It would be a lovely morning, if

**A/N**

 **And I'm back ^^ Sorry for the trouble**

 **xxx**

Alice's eyes snap open and she sits up to look around herself before she relieves a breath. She's home. Alone. HER old and quiet Victorian house with oriel windows.

"Bloody hell." The blonde woman shakes her head. What a disturbing weekend. Firstly, Carriedo interrupted her piece, then Amelia misunderstood the situation and another fight broke out. After that she went drinking with Gilbert, which made everything worse 'cause she ended up spending a hungover morning at the Carriedo's. Plus, worst of all, a whole day lost trying to figure just how the fuck she is supposed to follow Carriedo's advice and focus on her possibilities instead. «Possibilities», my arse! She still hasn't managed to come up with something.

And she still doesn't have an idea what to do.

Alice shakes her head remembering how she spent the last two days and decides she might as well get up and prepare some tea. She's awake now and wouldn't want to waste her Sunday sitting in her bed remembering things she'd rather keep in the past. When she opens the door of her bedroom, the blonde is greeted with the silence of her hallway. The carefully decorated furniture quietly sitting where she left them, properly in order making people question if someone really lived in this house.

Compared to the Carriedo's home, there are no letters or clothes spread throughout the house. Even her books are neatly put on the shelf except for the one she's reading right now and her latest embroidery stored away in a basket next to the couch.

It's quiet.

No Lovina quarrelling with her father; no An… Carriedo humming some random songs or showing off his guitar skills.

Actually, she didn't hear him play since… When was that? Ten years ago? No, eleven. Amelia was five. The Frog bugged her about her childhood fights with the fucking Spaniard and the next day he stood at their doorstep. Just like that after he disappeared from the face of the earth for five cursed years! A wide smile plastered all over his annoying face and a pouting girl sitting on his shoulders. That was the first time they met the five years old Lovina.

The Frog was overwhelmed with joy and almost fell out of his shoes before he killer-hugged Carriedo and dashed off to call Gilbert over. That was one cursed party. Alice, well… As soon as she was alone with the tanned git, she slapped him and gave his stomach a dig with the elbow. The angry woman warned him to NEVER do something like this to the Frog and Gilbert again. Then she released his necktie and took the kids out for an ice cream. –Everything but stay near that idiot.

However, when they came back he was still there. Playing and singing with Fran… The Frog and Gilbert joining in like back in high school. So noisy.

Whether it was the pervert being annoying, Amelia provoking her with loud music or turning the volume up while gaming, or the fighting lovebirds… Staying with others is noisy.

But not now. Not in her own home. It's so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Alice inhales and sighs. It's perfect. Structured. Organized. And with no sudden events disturbing her. No bickering South Europeans. No clingy ex-husband. No attention seeking daughter being noisy and no attention escaping son who suddenly appears out of nowhere. Just herself. And the fairies. Who needs anything else?

Oh, and she needs to call the Frog…

Never mind, she'll do that later.

xxx

It's a lovely Sunday morning. The birds' songs nicely compliment the few clouds floating through the morning sky. It WOULD be a lovely morning, IF... Well, if he could have started the day in a different way. Sleep in. Have some pancakes… But, no chance. He even had to skip breakfast because Amelia disappeared.

Matthew dashes through the city in search for his sister.

Just yesterday, she was feeling completely down, but the next morning she disappears before Matthew wakes up? The boy is sure this is not a good sign. He needs to find her! Quickly!

Just then, an obnoxious laughter resounds in his ears. "It can't be..." Turning around the next corner is the person he was searching for all morning: Amelia. Standing there as the happily laughing centre of a group of pedestrians, playing it cool and telling even more jokes than normal. Next to her, a serious... Holy shit, Mattie didn't know this was possible, but Kiku looks even more serious than normal. Even though his sister keeps arguing that's his relaxed face.

"Sis?"

It takes some time before she reacts and dashes a... Billion volt "GOOD MORNING MATTIE!" at him.

"Good morning... Eh..." So… How was that with the bad mood again? It's even worse than he thought.

The black haired Asian next to her turns around and looks a few seconds before something inside his head clicks. "... Mashuu-san... Is that right?" The blonde nods. Good to know that at least some things never change.

When his sister's arm locks around the younger boy's neck to tell him of all the good deeds she did that morning, Kiku's and Matthew's eyes lock. With his hand, the Asian points towards a coffee. Matthew shakes his head and moves his head to tell Kiku they'd better head down the street a little further. The older boy agrees and the freshman tries to lead his sister's steps while walking alongside Amelia to direct all his attention at her.

The girl's voice is loud as always. Her hands move through the air as much as possible. But her eyes don't sparkle. "And then there was this old lady with heavy bags, so I helped her carry them home, but on the way we met a dude whose car had broken down and needed some help, but the Granny was tired and I told him I would come back as soon as I could, so on my way back from the old lady's place, I helped him and…"

After walking far enough, both boys exchange a glance and pull the girl towards the Mc Donald's entrance, sit her down on a bench between the wall, the table and Matthew blocking her escape route while Kiku heads off to order their food. Though the girl is surprised, she doesn't complain at first as she is too occupied acting as if she's all right.

"Thank you for waiting." The raven haired teenager returns and puts a red tray down in front of Amelia before he turns once again to get the second tray.

"So." the girl only realizes something is going on when her brother turns to fully look at his sister. However, she continues unpacking her food while laughing idly. "What happened to your bad mood?"

The girl looks back and forth between her brother and her friend some times before it dawns to her what they are trying to get at. Then she suddenly tries to get up. "I completely forgot!" -fake laugh "I need to get my hairpin back from Ivan!"

Two pairs of hands make sure the girl won't escape. Pouting, she sits down again, only to come up with another excuse. "Mattie, I forgot to switch the lights off!"

"I left after you. I switched them off."

Short pause. Then she tries again. "Mattie, I..." But her brother won't budge nor move an inch "Mattie..." Amelia's voice starts to sound whiny, blinking at her brother with big, super adorable sky blue puppy eyes.

"Sis, not now." He grabs her coke to steal a sip from it before he places it in front of the blonde girl's nose. "I know how you love to avoid conflict, but not now. We need to talk." Good thing Kiku found his sister. And good thing he found the two of them this quickly.

However, the perfect excuse for Amelia to escape the two boy's challenging, and somewhat unusual stares comes at the perfect time. Her phone rings! "Hello! This is the super hero emergency hotline, Amelia E. Jones speaking?" Matthew rolls his eyes and Kiku sighs as both try to listen in to the call. "Pops?!" The blonde's face lights up. "Yeah, sure! Gotcha. We'll be there!" She finishes the call and gladly announces: "Pops invited me over for lunch and he already started cooking, so we'd better hurry!" And, using whatever superhuman ability she's got up her sleeve, the girl actually manages to escape with her drink and her burger in hand.

xxx

Yet another messed up morning. The weather would be perfect to sit outside and enjoy a cup of tea… It would be, if she already knew how to get in touch with Mattie. (Without having to go through Francis, that is…) Even the weirdest ideas she came up wouldn't help her doing so: Letting the fairies spy the Bonnefoy's house to see whether Mattie is there while Francis isn't didn't work. –They came back asking what the guy they needed to find looked like. She also thought about calling the Carriedo's place and motivate Lovina to bring Mattie over the next time she comes to her place but stopped, because she shouldn't drag other people in. What should she say if Carriedo picked up instead of his daughter? At least this event reminded her to ask the girl for her phone number the next time they meet.

All that's left now is… To call. Call Francis.

The divorced woman doesn't remember for how long she's been standing in front of the phone trying to dial the cursed number of her old home.

This is not for her sake, but for the kids. It's not about herself and Francis either. It's about Amelia. And Matthew. She can still hang up when the Pervert gets too annoying, so it's ok. And she doesn't need to face him. Which is better anyways as she can keep her personal distance.

It should be ok. She'll do it. Now.

Alice's stretches her hand towards the phone. Then she spots her half empty cup and decides otherwise. She'll finish her tea first. It would go to waste if it got cold. She'll call him after that.

xxx

"WE'RE HERE!" Amelia announces loudly and swings the door open. Mattie just couldn't open it up quickly enough! The girl darts inside and throws her shoes in a corner of her old home and inhales deeply. DELICIOUS! It's been ages since she last ate her old man's cooking! Great! "Mattie! Hurry your cute ass inside!" She tries to pull her brother inside who is calmly untying his shoelace. So slooow. How can he do this to her? "Why don't you just take them off like every other person would? And by the way, what's with these worn out sneakers? Get some new ones once in a while?"

"They're comfy." The strawberry blonde pouts and ruffles his wavy hair before he shuffles inside. "Where's _Papa_?" The kitchen is filled with a delicious smell coming from an old pot sitting on the burner. But their father is nowhere to be found.

Weird.

Amelia's spy senses react to the unfamiliar situation. She scans the hallway before the two creep towards the open kitchen and the living room. Nobody to be seen. The only sign of live is an old pot sitting on the burner, emitting a delicious sent.

"Oh! _Cassoulet_." Matthew comments and Amelia immediately turns to tell him to be quiet. The blonde boy is about to ask when they hear something coming from upstairs. Both teenagers exchange a glance and Amelia darts towards the stairs.

"Someone is in dad's bedroom!" She used to live here. So of course the girl knows exactly how she needs to place her feet. Amelia's a pro at being mute if needed. Especially when it comes to sneak to the fridge or the freezer at midnight without being noticed. Or if someone breaks into their house!

"Ohohohon~" When they hear the adult's signature laugh, Amelia feels her spirits drop. How boring. And there she thought something exciting might happen. Mattie snorts quietly. However, as the Frenchman continues to speak, both teenagers turn their heads and lean closer towards the door. "But _Chérie_! No need to get impolite, _Chouchou_! I was just trying to find a more fitting term for what you were talking about. «We need to talk» is just such a plain and boring way to put it!"

"Mum? The old hag is actually calling Pops?!" What an unusual event! Mattie shrugs his shoulders.

"Never happened before since they divorced…"

"Eh?!" The adult's surprised reaction catches the siblings' attention. " _Amelie_ run away?!"

OH SHIT! The two exchange a «We're screwed!» look and Amelia stumbles a bit forwards. Feeling herself loose balance, the girl tries to stop her fall but when she touches the door, she realizes it is open! "Matt!" Before she can even say anything more, her brother's hand locks around her arm and pulls her backwards. With a «thud», the girl lands on his chest. "Thanks"

"Oh, finally! Of course he needs a phone!" The conversation continues. It actually takes a surprisingly nice turn! "But about the thing with Amelie… Don't tell me you two continued to fight all night and day until she decided she's better find a friend's place to crash at than stay in the same house as you?"

–Or not so nice. Amelia grumbles unhappily. Just WHY did she need to tell him?! Just then, Mattie places a warm hand on her back and calmly pats it. "Don't worry. He's actually laughing about it…"

"Ohohon, we all know how you can be, _mon lapin!_ _Comme un petit hérisson!_ A hedgehog. All spiny and thorny, but fluffy inside. We both know she'll eventually get over it and you will no longer be able to live without her. And then you reunite and are all lovey-dovey like back in the day~ Ohohohon ~3"

Mattie rolls his eyes and nods to answer his sister's question: "Let me guess. She'll answer with «I didn't ask for your fucking advice and stop talking about us like some weird touchy-feely couple. We're relatives!»" –Apparently, she did. As the two spy through the partly opened door, they can easily spot their father's grin as he quietly laughs, imaging a blushing Alice.

"Well… Then why not let Tonio give you some advice?" The grin widens. "Why I would say that? Well, don't you happen to be babysitting Lovina? Can't help to meet your childhood friend from time to time, could you."

"Childhood friend?" Matthew frowns, while Amelia feels more and more lost.

"Babysitting?"

"They're more like sworn rivals if you ask me…"

"Babysitting?" Just what exactly is going on? And why exactly would Lovina need a babysitter? One thing is clear: "Mattie, something weird is going on." Or, in other words: "Let's go and start planning on what we're gonna do to figure out what's going on!"

Matthew gives her a lazy look. "Shouldn't we wait and listen a bit more?"

"Let's go, Mattie! Now!" and she shoes him off towards his room.

xxx

Bloody, cursed, BURNING hell. She should just hang up. Finish this stupid call. She told him what she needed to tell him so there's no need to keep this up!

Seriously, it just keeps getting worse. The Frog's annoying voice resounds in her ears. It's a different kind of annoying compared to An… Carriedo's annoying singsongy «today is a perfect day for a perfect day»- kind of voice getting on your nerves as soon as he opens his mouth. And another kind of annoying compared to Gilbert's shouting. After listening to Gilbert for too long, it feels as if your ears would fall off. Having to listen to the Frog's bullshit smooth talking… Feels as if someone slowly tears your ears off.

"Oh, you know, _chérie_ , a little birdie told me…!" Gilbert! She's SO going to kill him! "I was really glad when I heard about that. The two of you have been playing cat and mouse for ages!" Change of plans. She'll kill the Frog first.

And why does everybody try to hook her up with Carriedo?! That would be a match made in hell! A bet for the demons who will assassinate the other first. But no matter how she tries to get the Pervert to stop reading things into this matter, he won't listen.

"What~? You still try to deny this little love-hate relationship going on between the two of you when you were kids? You might have been able to fool him and yourself, but you can't fool me, _Chouchou_. Ah, how romantic! Childhood friends try to cover their feelings for one another so they always fight. And even after they share a hot kiss in high school, they continue to deny their attraction so the girl is snatched by the boy's best friend. After years of separation, they reunite! The beginning of a new happy ever after! That would make for a lovely romance story, _non_?"

"Rejected." That's it. Alice slams the receiver down.

 _ **xxx**_

 _ **Translations:**_

 _ **French:**_

 _Chérie = Dear_

 _Chouchou = Beloved_

 _Mon = My_

 _Lapin = Rabbit_

 _Comme un petit hérisson = Like a little hedgehog._

… _non? = right? Isn't it? (In other context: Non =No)_

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **The phone call:**

 **^w^ right time, right place…**

 **And Mattie will get his phone! Finally! (Again, sorry for my old fashioned thinking *hides* would be any teenager's social death not to have a phone… SORRY Mattie! m(_)m )**


	26. Clueless

**A/N**

 **Translations at the end.**

 **xxx**

Calmly squatting down, Lovina locks eyes with the hissing little animal sitting in front of her. She doesn't really remember how long she's been trying to touch the small cat. But it's not like she would want to pet the short fur. The little creature's fur is coloured in two shades of brown. It's been sitting in front of the dark brown haired teenager for quite some time now, scaring all the other cats away which tried to approach her.

So Lovina had no other choice than to play the «can I touch you first or can you scratch me first»-game. Which, she wouldn't admit, but had been quite fun. The hissing can sits, her paw lifted and her claws out but she would only move it whenever Lovina tries to poke her. Didn't scrat her yet though. "Feliciana… Why did you drag me here again?"

She glances over to her friend, busy with chatting with the janitor. Or rather, she guesses that's what is going on, because either of them is busy petting a bunch of cats crawling all over them and their constant "Mew, mew" makes it impossible to understand a word. However, Feliciana looks happy to the extreme of flowers appearing in the air behind her head, so Lovina guesses it should be all right.

Therefore, the teenager turns her focus towards the hissing little monster sitting in front of her, when suddenly something jumps at her. And she does not shriek. –Why would she, suddenly finding herself attacked by a bicolour ball of fluff. The cat purrs loudly as it rubs its head against Lovina's shoulder. The girl, unsure what to do with the cuddly newcomer pats the cat's head and realizes it wears a necklace with a little cross as she suddenly feels pain.

"Hey!" She pulls her other hand back and meets eyes with the glaring brown cat. The little one mews angrily before it turns to walk away. The bigger cat follows after cuddling up to Lovina once more. As the weight disappears from her lap, the girl inspects the scratches on her left hand and curses. "I'll head back inside." She excuses herself to the bubbly girl sitting next to a… sleeping… ok… janitor. And almost stumbles over a black kitten sitting next to a flower pot, glaring at the scene.

Just what the fuck is up with these cats today? Are they always like this? Whatever their problem is, Lovina decides she doesn't want to know and she won't come here again even if Feliciana drags her here!

"A smile would suit you a lot better!" a sweet voice suddenly calls out to the South European. She turns her head to see who spoke and faces a broad chest.

Oh shit.

Lovina wishes she could've just ignored the tall Russian and curses herself. Normally she'd do everything to make sure she won't cross ways with him… But no, she walked straight into his arms. Almost literary! Panicking, the teenager looks around the room for a place to escape to. The Italian classroom. –No. Lunchbreak's not over yet and there's no way she'd step a foot inside a classroom if she didn't have to. Cafeteria. Yes. Where to sit? –She'll figure something.

"Thanks. And sorry, gotta go." Dashing over to the cafeteria's entrance, the brown haired girl could bet he is following her. CREEEPY! However, worst of all is the fact she can't spot a single familiar face. –Except for…

"Hm? Are you looking for someone? Should I help?" Freezing, Lovina wishes he had been born with shorter legs. Seriously. She was speed-walking over here while he slowly followed her and managed to keep up with her so easily! Fucking shit! Once more, the girl glances to the one person in the room she knows… Sorta knows. And tries to figure which one would mean less trouble.

"Nah, thanks. Just found who I was looking for…" Lovina makes her way towards the round table crowded with people. It's a wonder there's still an empty seat. That's weird… She thought there were two empty seats… Did she oversee someone? However, that's not really what matters. What matters right now is the fact that Amelia and Ivan don't get along. And this will save her! Without further ado, the brunette walks over and claims the single empty chair as hers.

xxx

"Oh, hello!" Curiously, Amelia dashes her smile at the newcomer and wonders, what the Spaniadr's daughter is doing here.

"Hi" is all the grumpy girl manages. Even though Lovina was all «Don't ever talk to me again» the last time Amelia saw her? The blonde leans over the table and grins at the other girl.

"So, what're you up to?"

"Shut up." Is all the girl says before she turns to face the other way. Surprised, the teenager tries to think about an answer to the impolite, grumpy greeting as a shadow appears behind her. Amelia narrows her eyes and turns to face whoever blocks the sun falling through the window but her eyes are covered by a large hand.

"Guess who?" As soon as she hears the childish voice, Amelia jumps up on her feet. Holy Coke, how could she miss her archenemy approaching?! The girl's arm immediately drives her heel in his foot and her ellbow in his stomach. However, Ivan doesn't move an inch and just repeats the question.

"Ivan, get off me or you'll regret it!" The tall teenager chuckles and removes his hand from her eyes.

"You guessed right~!" he humms "Let me give you a reward!" Even though the girl makes sure to bring some distance between herself and the Commie, he manages to grab her and… Did he just put something in her hair? "Ehe, cute"

Amelia grabs the little metal thing and removes it to take a closer look at the accessorize. "… that's not mine." How UNCOOL, It's not star shaped!

"Now it is." Ivan smiles sweetly and if she didn't know it better, she might even misunderstand he's a nice dude. But nah.

"It's heart shaped. I don't have any heart shaped pins. Take it back."

Ivan's smile doesn't falter even as she holds the pin out to hand it back. "I'd rather you gave me your heart in exchange." The tall boy humms and his smile widens. Somebody at the table caughs as Amelia blinks in confusion.

Shifting her posture, the blonde girl stretches her hand up and waves the pin back and forth in front of his eyes. "It's not mine. Take it back."

" _ты такая классная"_ with a wide smile, Ivan flat out ignores the pin and turns to head back towards the entrance. Amelia shakes her head and wonders what his problem was before she slumps back on her seat.

"What the heck?! Stupid Commie, what did he even come here for?!" the blonde girl throws the pin at the table before a sound she's never heard before distracts her. Just about as confused as Amelia herself, everybody else turns to look at the brunette girl sitting next to Amelia, shaking and giving off weird noises before she breaks out into laughter. "You… Can laught?!" Her friends are about as surprised to see Lovina laught as Amelia herself. "Holy shit, I thought this grumpy face was all you could manage?!"

"You…" Lovina breaks into another fit and it takes some time until she actually manages to speak: "You…'re even more… more clueless… than I thought…" And she continues shaking with laughter.

"Huh? What're you talking about?" Amelia doesn't get it. What is Lovina talking about? And what is making her laugh like that? She looks at the brunette and tries to make sense of her words. Clueless? Who is? And what's so funny about that?

xxx

Not funny at all.

Alice keeps staring at the computer screen in front of her, trying to focus on her work.

Bloody hell. To think a fucking call which didn't even last five minutes could spoil her mood even up till now. Cursed Frog! Instead of entering the last digits, Alice opens another browser tab to check her chances to win the court case if she got sued for turning her ex husband into a toad. Would her chances for winning rise if she said it was pure self-defence to protect herself and her children of his stupidness?

The Englishwoman growls and closes the tab. It would be a stupid idea to test out some random spells at Francis. Who knows, his stupidness might even cause the spell to backfire. She's never looked into it before, but maybe the effect of an enchantment might also have something to do with the person they're directet at. If that was the case, she might have higher chances succeeding in trying to turn a wine bottle into a rose than turning her Ex into a frog. Plus… The blonde woman feels shifers run down her spine as she realizes the new possibilities the Frog would have to stalk women.

"The worst!" Alice grumbles unhappily and tries to focus on her numbers once more.

"Who is?" The sudden voice speaking from behind almost makes her jump. "The thing with your ex?"

Once more, the Englishwoman grumbles before she turns to face Luca. "Those little chatter boxes." The blonde shakes her head before she looks at her friend's understanding eyes. "Didn't manage to find Mattie for me, but whatever you'd rather people don't know spreads like fire."

Luca smiles. "I didn't hear from the faries, Alice. Your face says it all. Many things piss you off. And even more people. But there's only few that manage to stir you up like this…" The Norwegian woman takes a chair to sit down next to the Englishwoman. "And normaly you are really grumpy after an argument, but can also easily calm yourself down. Today however, you've been binge-drinking earl-grey. –Do you want to talk about it?"

Alice grumbles once more and leans back. "Not really. My Ex is an arsehole, my daughter ran away, my son will finally get a phone. Nothing out of the usual; no new information to talk about… Oh, and did I mention I hate the Frog?" Luca doesn't respond and just continues to listen to Alice's rant. "Opposites attract, bloody hell! Just HOW do you manage to survive living in the same household as this hyperactive friend of yours?"

The other blonde woman shrugs her shoulders. "I guess I just got used to her being noisy all the time. Of course, it can be verry annoying. However, ignoring her works wonders. Whenever she did another unnecessary thing, and she realizes I avoid her, Martina tries her best to find a good way and properly appologize." The slight blush doesn't escape Alice's attention even though her friend's face doesn't show any other emotion.

Just why couldn't things work out like that for her too?

"Then what about Gilbert?"

Blinking in confusion, Alice processes the words once more to make sure she hears right. "What about him?"

"Well… Aren't you guys pretty different people as well? Yet you would go drinking with Gil and Martina every now and then. Though you always complain you will never do it again, the next week I find the three of you taking another place appart."

The Englishwoman has to admit Luca has a point. "Sorry about that…"

"Or what about the girl you've recently become friends with? Antonio's daughter?" The Norwegian woman continues looking at her as Alice tries to make a connection between her problems with the Frog and Lovina.

"We're pretty simillar…" Looking at Luca's deep, purple eyes, Alice suddendly begins to doubt her own words. Her own thoughts. Lovina and herself… Are they really that much alike? What are the things they have in common? And where are the differences?

"In other words… How comes you can get along with a grumpy Lovina but can't manage a rebellious Amelia? Try to think about it, Alice. It's not always the other people's fault. Sometimes, we can be our own worst problem."

xxx

She can't believe it! Even though Amelia is widely known as the it-girl, the trend setter, the strongest, most amazing girl in school… The girl doesn't even get it when Ivan openly flirts with her. After calming down, Lovina looks up with a wide grin plastered over her face. "Clueless about romance." With a chuckle, the brunette watches the blonde girl's facial expression change as she starts to defend herself.

"Clueless?! How could you say…" Her expression changes once again and Lovina realizes how amusing her diverse her expressions can be. For example now: Her eyes wide in surprise, her mouth slightly open. So easy to read. "So… About relationships…" The girl's eyes roll over to the second chair Lovina thought was empty but she now finds… Amelia's brother sitting on it. Then the blonde looks back at the brunette. "Never mind…"

Not really sure what the other girl is trying to get at, Lovina reconsiders strolling around once more. Or maybe go get a coffee and sit somewhere without any other annoying people around. Ivan's out of sight, Feliciana is most likely still fussing over the cats and Lovina is bored. When she gets up once more to buy a cup, she doesn't realize the girl following her until Amelia directly blocks her way.

"Can I have a minute?" The blonde glances around. "Somewhere else." Raising an eyebrow, Lovina wonders about the secretiveness but figures if she listens now, she will be able to get her coffee sooner. However, she couldn't have expected what Amelia askes her in the end: "So… Do you know if there's anything going on between our parents?"

"Err… What?" Now this came unexpected. "The _Idiota_ and your dad are best friends; the _idiota_ and Alice hate each other…?"

"Not that… More like… hollywood romance happening between your dad and my mum?"

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Russian:**

 _ты такая классная_ = you are so cute (girl)

 **Italian**

 _Idiota_ = idiot

 **xxx**

 **Odds of writing fanfiction:**

 **Writing this really makes me want to write my own stories. Because there I can go into character development and so on. Whereas here I need to make sure they don't become OOC. Either is a challenge, but I just love seeing my characters become alive and it's really different for a FF.**

 **I would do so many things different for another FF. Like throwing in less random things… (The songs…) Then again, things like the main/supportive character's genderbent version as background character or Nekotalia-appearances is kinda fun to use as easter eggs.**

 **The semi-nyotalia –thing is also weird. Like, how do you determine which character to gender bend? I just came up with the story like that, so I didn't think much about it. I might do it different another time.**

 **xxx**

 **Nyo!Denmark**

 **I just went for «Martina», even though I don't know if that's the name I want to use for her… Might change that later on. I'll let you guys know if I do though.**

 **As for her relationship with Nyo!Norway, I'll leave that up to your imagination ;) In my head cannon they're sharing a flat with Emil. Just because they've all known each other for ages anyways and Nyo!Den would stay over at Nyo!Noru and Icy's house more than her own so they figured they might as well move together.**

 **As for Finny and Nyo!Sweden; that's an official ship ^^**

 **xxx**

 **Tireeed ~**

 **Sorry guys, if this chapter's somewhat odd, or if there's a lot of mistakes. I didn't have a lot of time this week and I'm dead tired RN. Tried my best, but there might be more mistakes in this chapter :( Shit, I really need to refresh my grammar and spelling skills :( Sorry!**

 **However, we're finally getting somewhere! Most of the prep work for the next step is done! ^^**

 **The day when Lovina learns about her past is close! And some other things as well ^^ Sorry for this slow starter… I really need to work on my writing skills as well!**

 **Good night! And have a good week! :)**

 **Himawari**


	27. The next time they meet up

"… What?" Lovina tries to process what she just heard. Hollywood romance with Alice and the Tomato Bastard? The blonde girl fixing her with big blue eyes repeats her question before the brunette waves her off. It's not like she didn't hear the question. However, she first needs to think about it.

Well… She did already wonder if the _Idiota_ was interested in Alice. However, she never thought there might be anything more than his one-sided feelings. Has there ever been a sign of Alice being interested too?

"Hey, Lovi… You still there?" Amelia waves a hand in front of Lovina's eyes.

The South European realizes, how close the other girl is standing to her and takes a step back. Frowning, she complains about the nickname. "It's «Lovina». Don't you dare call me anything but that!" That, and the fact how the blonde just interrupted her train of thoughts allready make the brunette wish she didn't decide to listen to Amelia.

However, the other girl doesn't seem to realize her displeased expression and continues to ramble on. "So… I mean, come on. You're Tonio's daughter, aren't you? What, if there was actually some love triangle between our parents? …Holy shit! What, if… You don't know your mother, do you… So…"

"OI!" Lovina raises her voice in hope the other girl might realize she's mixing up a lot of impossible and creepy bullshit. "Calm down! Firstly, there's no such thing as a love triangle! That would be… I don't even want to think about it… Secondly…" The teenager does her best in expressing her accusing «are you stupid?»- face. "We were born around the same time." Deep sigh. "Any kind of creepy, odd relationship is impossible."

Amelia on the other side doesn't seem to catch on to her expression and contines fantasizing: "Ok, maybe not. But who says there's nothing going on now? I mean, they're both single and all. So it's not impossible." Her hands move through the air as she narrates some cheesy hollywood movie plot Lovina doesn't give any attention to. As far as she sees it, there's no reason to make up any od theories.

"You're insane. Maybe the Tomato Bastard harbours some one-sided feelings or whatever. But there's no chance Alice could actually be interessed in him."

And, for a whole of two seconds, Amelia shuts her mouth. And simply stares at Lovina. She even forgot to close her mouth. Before Lovina can start to enjoy the moment, the weels in Amelia's head seem to have started turning again ans she continues blabbering: "One-sided?! Wait… I thought it might be more of a one-sided thing Mum feels towards… Holy shit!"

So tiring. Lovina feels her spirit drop as she thinks how long they've already been standing there. She'd rather sit on a comfy chair with a cup of coffee in her hands than chatting idly with the flashy She-Bastard overinterpretating the situation. Looking around, the girl tries to think of a way to escape her and glances around the room. Only to meet the Italian teacher's eyes. He walks over to the two girls with a grumpy look as if wondering if Amelia was indeed bullying her.

Lovina rolls her eyes and even though she'd rather be anywhere than stuck with Amelia right now, having a grumpy teacher sniff around as they talk about their parent's love lives would be even worse. "So… What makes you think there might be something going on? Any specific evidence?" The girl tries to keep the conversation up and make it look as if she was standing there chatting with her «friend» on purpose.

And, what the fuck, Amelia seriously answers her question. But, in a fucking creepy way. With a growing feeling of awkwardness, Lovina watches the blonde girl shift and suddenly start acting all «super-duper secret» as if this was some spy movie. Her voice only a whisper now, the crazy She-Bastard starts listing her «evidence»: "So… There was this one time you met the old hag in the shopping mall. When you guys left, she stared after the two of you as if longing for something."

What the…? "The fuck?! How the heck do you know we met this one time?" Lovina already starts regretting she even asked for any clear proof.

"Coincidence… So. Then there was this one time in front of the greenhouse…"

"Green…"

"Yeah! They were, like, really staring into each other's eyes! Must have been some odd date."

The greenhouse… "How did you come to that conclusion? They were..." Mid-sentence, Lovina stops talking. Not like she's embarrassed to say she also ran away and failed it hard, but there's just no need for Amelia to know. And… Remembering the events of that night once more, Lovina feels the need to protect Alice from her daughter's wild imagination. In other worlds, Lovina just needs to quickly make sure Amelia stops reading things into this before she starts doing some stupid things. "Sorry to disappoint you. I was with them that night. No hearts flying or any of that shit."

Even though the South European is convinced this should have done the job, she realizes Amelia keeps looking at her with a doubting expression. "So? What about the shopping mall?"

Oh right… The shopping mall… _Vaffanculo._ "She was… confused…" She can't possibly tell her about the «mother-daughter» thing! Desperately trying to find something she could say to distract Amelia from the real reason her mother was confused back then, the girl tries her best to remember what happened that day. "Oh, did you ever get the pyjamas?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about…" However, her pouty expression and the blue eyes rolling to the side so she won't have to face Lovina make clear she does know. However, the blonde is far from giving up on the original topic. Just when Lovina thinks this stupid interrogation is over, Amelia comes with one of the worst points: "Well… There was this one time I decided to go and talk with the old hag… I… Well, let's just say they were obviously about to make out?" Lovina raises a doubting eyebrow.

Sure. Making out. Lovina raises an eyebrow and tries to imitate the Tomato Bastard's doubting face.

"Yes, they were!" Taking another step forward, the brunette realizes Amelia is closer to her again than she would like. Lovina takes a step backwards and the blonde another one forward. She is now standing so close, Lovina can feel her warm breath against her skin. "So… They were actually standing like this. The old hag pressed against the fridge or whatever it was and Tonio closing the distance between their…" Lovina feels her patience disappear. With all her strength, she pushes Amelia back. Somehow though, she doesn't seem to manage to succeed. The blonde girl doesn't move an inch, but at least she stops supporting her narration by acting it out. "And lastly… I overheard my dad talking about how your dad and my mum kissed. Like, a HOT kiss back in high school." Finally, the She-Bastard steps back and gives Lovina some space. "Well, how about that."

KISS?! Almost screaming, Lovina curses colourfully at the picture appearing in her mind. She doesn't want to even THINK about her father kissing… "No WAY! You must have heard it wrong, I tell you!" Yes, she must have misheard. It's impossible. "Just wait. The next time they meet up, we'll be there to watch! And you will see with your own eyes: NOTHING is going on between them." She doesn't want to think about it. What if the _Bastardo_ got a girlfriend...? Would he still have enough time for his cute daughter?

xxx

Even though Amelia was SURE her evidence is without fault, the other girl standing in front of her doesn't look convinced. Lovina; aka «Agent Grumpy» (she just decided on that name and it's a perfect match!) must be a pro. Whatever she might be thinking, it doesn't show on her face, hidden behind a well-trained mask of doubt. The brunette refuses to share the crucial information with her counterpart. However, Grumpy doesn't seem to see the main connections between the events. She needs to make sure the teenager understands so they can start working together!

The blonde girl shifts her position once more. Then she realizes what the brunette just said. Wait... Grumpy's got a point there! "So... You request we go on a mission to confirm the evidence? Good idea!" Glad to finally have found common ground, Amelia swings her arm around the smaller girl's shoulder and drags her forward. Time to celebrate their collaboration with a super-size coke and a triple chocolate chip cookie!

"Get your hands off of me!" The blonde girl feels all her excitement turn into confusion when her arm gets slapped away. Surprised, Amelia meets Lovina's angry gaze and wonders what happened.

"Ah!" It finally dawns to her and the blonde agent pulls her accomplice over to the side of the hallway again. She reminds herself to whisper. "You're right! We still need to discuss our strategy! Oh... And I have a request!" The brunette takes a step backwards and the blonde pulls closer once more. After all it's important to make sure no one overhears them! Leaning forward once more, Amelia expresses her conditions. "Now. Whatever we do, you must promise you won't tell Mattie any of this!"

Grumpy takes another step backwards and the other teenager follows once more.

"Who?"

"Mattie!" All of their top secret-act completely forgotten, Amelia finds herself struggling for words. "Mattie, the adorkable tall cutie who plays hockey?! That strawberry blonde freshman who's just too cute for his own good? –Oh, and sometimes sucks at playing sports?"

"Ah." Glad her explanation made sure the brunette remembers, Amelia nods excitedly. "You mean the one whose face you ruined when training baseball?" For a second, neither of them speaks. "What was his name again?"

"Matt-hew. Mattie. That's the name. Remember it now?"

"Ah, _Matteo_!"

Amelia's shoulders drop. "How come people can't even remember his name?! Mattie's the cutest, fluffiest cinnamon roll ever! He…!" Grumpy calls him « _Matteo»_ and even Kiku doesn't manage to remember his real name! « _Mashuu»_ … It sounds cute and all, but nothing beats « _Mattie_ »! Amelia is about to say something when her eyes meet Lovina's frowning expression.

"So I shouldn't tell him. But why should I tell him about something I am convinced isn't true?"

"It IS!" Amelia wonders how the other girl could ever say something like it's not true when it's THIS obvious. Well, she just needs to make her realize she isn't making this up! "I clearly overheard my father talking about them being an item. And if there's ONE person who knows about romance, it's my dad. As for now, we just need to find a way to make sure they meet up!"

Looking around, Amelia tries to come up with a plan which forces the old hag and Tonio to meet up. When she remembers she's not working alone right now, Amelia pulls Lovina to the side. This is the crucial part after all! They need to talk about the plan in secret and make sure they won't be seen by people. However, the brunette struggles under the blonde girl's grip as if she just WANTS to get attention. The South European girl also starts cursing loudly and Amelia tries to tell her to be quiet unless she wanted people to… Wait…

Hiding a big grin, Amelia swings both her arms around the smaller girl and waits for her to start screaming and cursing loudly.

xxx

Waiting in line, Antonio looks around the little coffee shop. Choosy place. He just discovered it the other day. So today he thought he might as well drop by and try it out. If the place is as good as what he's heard about it so far, he might talk Lovi into joining him for a second visit!

" _Sì, hai parlato una volta da lei…_ _Comme? Sai sicuro?"_ A bubbly voice catches the Spaniard's interest: A young Italian chatting on his phone. Antonio smiles as he thinks about his baby girl. Oh she is so cute. And even though she pouts a lot, she's just to cute when complaining in Italian. Whenever he hears someone speak in the same language, it reminds him of cute Roma. _" Fratello, sai cento per cento sicuro? Multo interessante! Sì è proprio co si, est multo interessante! Ok… Alora… Cosha facchiamo adesso? … Ma fratello… Ah, sì! Sì, posso fare!"_ Antonio sighs. He can more or less make out what the man is talking about: He's been chatting with his brother about a girl.

He smiles. Then again… He doesn't only have good memories about men speaking Italian… Antonio turns around to take a peak at the man. _"Sì… Non! Ah, sì… Ok… Bene, facchiamo cosi. Ma… E comme lo voi fare?_ _Ah, Lo vedo…"_ However, the person he spots sitting at a small table looks airheaded and naïve; no-one to be wary of. Not at all. In contrary. The auburn haired Italian quickly finishes his phone call as a blonde, tall woman enters the shop. Beaming, the man falls around the flustered woman's face.

"Good afternoon, sir. What would you like to order?" Antonio turns to the barrista and beams a smile at the man. Then he places his order and waits some more. Pitty. If the barrista were a cute girl, he would have loved to chat with her, but it's a stern tall blonde who doesn't seem to be chatty. Antonio he can't help but gatch a glimpse at the couple again. The Italian's company still deeply flustered by her tanned boyfriend's openly shown affection. So cute.

Antonio's lips curl into a smile but his attention is drawn from the lovebirds when his phone starts ringing. _"_ _¿D_ _ígame?_ "

"Good afternoon! Antonio?" Though the Spaniard thinks he's heard the overly cheerful woman's voice before, he doesn't know where to put it.

Therefore he simply answers with a polite: "Yes, this is Antonio Carriedo. Who am I talking with?"

"Awww, come on! Couldn't have forgotten about me, could you! –But never mind. We can talk about that later. It's about your daughter…"

Confused with trying to figure out who the nameless caller is, he hardly realizes the cup the barrista places down next to him with an extra cookie and the comment "'s on t' house." Antonio quickly thanks the man and takes his order.

"What was that about Lovina?"

xxx

Fighting her bad mood, Alice spent most of the day trying to focus on her work and assure Luca she's all right. Even though both women know she is not. Her brain's been keeping her busy with unpleasant thoughts while her fingers wouldn't move at all. She barely managed to finish the first report and there's a bunch of other documents piling up on her desk she needs to take care off. She hates it. Being unable to concentrate is the worst for a person who is always aware of her duties and does her job without fail. And today was one of these hateful days. Alice sighs. Looks like she'll do some overtime today.

The next document is something about… And once more her thoughts trail off. She just can't get Luca's words out of her mind.

Differences… Similarities. Somehow it's always either which you can point out easily while the other one is hard to point at. She can easily spell out the differences between herself and the Frog, Carriedo and her Amelia. Similarities… Between herself and Luca, Lovina… But what similarities? How comes the two of them actually get along? Besides their simmilar dislike for the world and stupid people, what is there? They can easily joke about the three idiots and share an interest in gardening. But besides that…

Just then, her Norwegian boss heads towards her desk, looking rather confused. "Alice, why are you still here?" Shrugging her shoulders, the Englishwoman points at her workload and turns towards the blinding screen again. "You should at least check your phone from time to time!"

"My phone?"

The purple eyed woman picks Alice's bag up and places it atop the documents. "Your daughter's school caled. Apparently, Amelia got into a fight with a classmate… Something about their mothers."

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Vaffanculo_ = Fuck

 _Bastardo_ = Bastard

 _Sì, hai parlato una volta da lei… Comme? Sai sicuro? Fratello, sai cento per cento sicuro? Multo interessante! Sì è proprio co si, est multo interessante! Ok… Alora… Cosha facchiamo adesso? … Ma fratello… Ah, sì! Sì, posso fare!_

Yes, you told me about that girl… Eh?! Are you sure about this? Brother, are you really sure? I mean, this would be really surprising! Can you tell me more? –No? Oh… Then what should we do? …But brother… Ah, right! I can do that!

 _Sì… Non! Ah, sì… Ok… Bene, facchiamo cosi. Ma… E comme lo voi fare?_ _Ah, Lo vedo…_

Yes… No! Ah, yes. Ok, let's do that. But… How do you think you can do that? Ah… I see…

 **\- I tried my best, but not 100% sure about grammar and spelling! DX**

 **Spanish:**

 _¿D_ _ígame?_ = Hello? (on the phone)

 **xxx**

 **Communication... Lol!**

 **I'm really looking forward to write the AmeRoma parts :'D Misunderstanding alert :P Their ways of thinking and communication is just so different**

 **xxx**

 **Writing style**

 **Sorry if every time I write Amelia's POV it's different. It's really difficult for me to write and understand her. I try my best, but it turns out different every time. It's also a difference whether or not she is in RPG-mode.**

 **xxx**

 **Just me**

 **Nothing to talk about rn.**

 **Take care and wish u all a good week! Sunshine for those who need some sun and rain wherever the earth's all dried up!**

 **-Himawari**


	28. Friday night

Not really sure what awaits him, Antonio enters the school grounds. He got a call from the headmaster about Lovi getting into a brawl with Amelia? Apparently, the two girls started fighting during lunchbreak.

Somehow, Antonio can't stop thinking that he might sort of be involved in the whole mess. Didn't Lovina tell him how Amelia «came up with some new shit to bug Feliciana and her»? Apparently, the vibes between the two girls weren't really nice to begin with. Then there was the situation where the blonde teenager unexpectedly turned up and her reaction when she saw him talking with Alice. This must have added some fuel to the fire.

As for Lovina… The topic about her mother is nothing to be messed with. Remembering the headmaster's words, this must have been how Amelia got her. Amelia's anger combined with Roma's famous temper, must have led to where they are now. Teachers and students got involved and made a huge deal of a fight between two girls. The Spaniard wonders, if Feliciana wasn't there at that time. She might have been able to calm Lovi down.

"Oi! Tomato Bastard, what took you so long?!" An angry voice calls out and he discovers his proud baby girl sitting on the stairs of the building; arms and legs crossed, deep scowl and messed up hair. Yeah, she's REALLY pissed.

A nervous Feliciana walking back and forth next to her and hurriedly talking to her to calm her down. The Spaniard can't help but think she looks like a nervous little bird flapping around a cat with its claws out. As soon as she spots the brown haired man approaching, the girl comes running to his side. " _Zio_ Tonio!" The adult catches the girl in his arms and pats her head. "It is horrible! Lovi got into a fight with Amelia and I was outside, but when I came inside, they were already shouting at each other and then the teachers came over and so many students were standing there, trying to get the two to stop fighting, but Amelia wouldn't stop calling out mean things so Lovi got angry again and would call bad things back, and then…"

Calmly listening, the man pats the teenage girl's head and waits for her to finish. Then he gives her another hug and places his hands on her shoulder. " _Sí, gracias_ for telling me, Feli~ I'm here now. I'll talk with the headmaster. It'll be fine." Finally, the auburn haired seems to calm down. He ruffles her hair. "Now, no need for you to worry. Thank you for taking care of _mi pequeña_ , but it's time for you to go home now. Your parents will be worried. We'll make sure to drop by and let you know how things turned out, _sí_?"

" _Sì_." Her voice is barely a whisper combined with a suppressed hiccup.

"And you know…" Leaning closer, Antonio looks into her eyes and winks. "… How Lovina gets after situations that make her nervous like this one? -Hungry"

" _Sì_!" This time, the answer sounds more firm and the teenager finally seems to relax a bit. "I'll tell my parents you will be staying for some coffee and cake." Beaming a weak smile at the Spaniard, Feliciana wishes him good bye and dashes over to Lovina once more to say bye to her as well before she turns towards the gate.

Watching the girl walk away, Antonio waits for the almost five times she turns to wave before he approaches his daughter. "Lovi~! You heard that? Let's drop by at Feli's place for dessert after we finish here!" Antonio swings an arm around the fuming teenager.

" _Lasciarmi_!" The girl angrily tries to push him away. She's pissed. Really pissed off. Antonio secures his first arm with a strong grip from his second, locking the struggling and cursing teenager in his arms. Lovi is pissed off at him. Pissed off at Amelia. Pissed at everyone and pissed off at herself; though she would never admit it.

Even quietly humming in her ears doesn't really help and the brunette man waits until the girl stops struggling just long enough for him to fondle a flyer from his back pocket. Waving the piece of paper in front of her eyes, she doesn't seem happy about the disturbance and slaps his hand away. "What the fuck is that?" The teenager tears the flyer out of his fingers to take a closer look at the home-delivery menu.

"It's a promise." Antonio hums against her messy hair. Turning the paper to glance over it, Roma askes what for. "Well…" The brown haired man starts, trying to choose his words wisely. "If I intend to tell you about your roots, I thought it would be easier if I don't have to take care of cooking and washing up. So I thought ordering Pizza would be easiest."

It takes some time for the girl to progress her guardian's words. Then she turns her light green eyes to look at him. "When?" The quiet word weights like all the other hundreds of questions she asked him about her mother before.

"Friday night."

xxx

Matthew watches the flood of students and wonders what to do after lessons finish. Amelia told him to stick around even though he doesn't feel like staying. Then again, his sister's been behaving weird all day. Not even to speak about the weekend. Which was even worse. Or rather… the past few days were pure chaos. First, Amelia starts acting weird; bullies other students at random and tries to break in the school kitchen with her sworn rival. After she finally agreed to go talking with their Mother, it seemed like it didn't turn out well and when he went to visit her… Well… She refused to go outside; binge-watching nickelodeon all Saturday. Sunday morning she suddenly disappeared and tried to act as if everything was all right.

The weirdest moment however was after they listened to _Papa's_ phone call. Even though she was crazy about coming up with another weird plan to stalk _Maman_ , she didn't speak a word the moment she entered his room just to be all bubbly again the moment dinner was ready. Today again she suddenly seemed to be all «best friends» with Lovina but the two of them end up fighting?! And about what?!

The blonde sighs. All those moods start to tire him out.

"Mattie! Mattie! Mattie! Matt!" The girl in question turns up and swings an arm around his shoulder. "So! Ready for some shit to go down?!"

"Depends…"

"Aww, come on! I'm positive after today things will start settling down!" Her hyperactive laugh sounds about as little convincing as her new-year resolution. –Last time she said she won't go to Mc Donald's as often as the year before. Which she actually did; however, the times she dropped by at Burger King increased. In other words; he should be mindful of her words.

"And what should settle down? What's going on? Are you still fussing about this romance-thing?"

"You see…" Avoiding his eyes, the blonde girl struggles for an answer. "Well…" Suddenly, Amelia ducks away and hides behind a chair.

"What are you doing?" Confused, Matthew watches his sister creep around on the ground, trying to find a good position to disappear behind her backpack.

"Shh! Not everyone's a natural in background fading! Look!" She tugs on his trousers to tell him to squat down as well and, at the same time points to the other end of the hallway. "Tonio! And Lovina!"

Slowly, Matthew bends his knees. It's odd to see his sister sitting on the floor while he is standing up straight. The blonde girl is focused on staring at the two brunettes debating with each other. Matthew wonders about the one thing he was never really sure. Every time he sees his father's best friend talking with his daughter, he can't really tell whether the girl likes or despises her father. Whichever it is though, the adult doesn't seem to mind. He continues talking happily and smiles as if he were the happiest man on earth.

"You know what?" Amelia suddenly whispers. The boy turns to look at his frowning sister. "This is Antonio we're talking about, right?" Matthew nods. "We've known him since a long time, right?" The boy nods again. "And… I suppose he's pretty chill?"

"He's pretty ok. Friendly, happy and easy going. He's a good cook and crafty." The freshman isn't sure where this is going, but he just hopes his sister is talking about what he thinks she is talking about.

"Yeah. Well, I was thinking that… Hypothetically speaking… If he were to hook up with our mum… Well…"

"Wouldn't that be all right? He's nice after all. Of course he can also get serious and angry and such, but everyone does that I suppose?"

"Not that!" Unsure how to respond, Matthew just waits for her to continue talking. "Wouldn't that make Gilbert our uncle?" The strawberry blonde coughs and wonders if his sister really just said this. Why would Gilbert be their uncle? "Why? Well, Francis's our dad, and if Tonio became our step dad, we would practically be related to two out of the three."

Shaking his head, the teenage boy wonders how his sister's mind could just bend around the topic like that. –Then again, if Antonio became their step dad and Gilbert their uncle, that would make four men to scare off any unfit suitors for Amelia. Even though he doesn't get his older sibling's logic, he would like this idea.

xxx

Alice's heels clack through the hallway as she rushes towards the headmaster's office. Torn between anger and wondering what the fuck had happened between Amelia and Lovina to start a bitch fight, she doesn't realise the tall blonde boy until she almost stumbles in his arms. " _Salut_ _Maman_." Matthew catches his mother and the women whirls around to face her boy.

"Mattie!" the surprised words escape her and Alice has to remind herself where she is, keeping herself from hugging the cutie standing right in front of her. Which teenager would want their parents to make a scene in the middle of the hallway… Even less be cuddled by their mum like a little baby boy.

An awkward silence follows as neither of them knows what to do at their reunion. The teenager's voice finally breaks the ice between them: "Long time no see."

"Yeah…" Glancing around the room in search for any words, Alice is relieved when her son just gently chuckles and asks her, how she's been doing over the last weeks. "Good, I guess… How about you?"

"Good…" Matthew shrugs his shoulders and, oh dear, did he grow again? Is that even possible? "Except for the fact that sis was moody a lot lately, eh?"

Suppressing a growl, Alice wishes her daughter would for fucking once leave her brother be and solve her problems by herself. "Sorry about that…"

"'Bout what." A loud voice cuts through the air and the pair turns to face a pissed looking Amelia. "Long time no see, old hag."

"Glad you're doing great as well." The adult grumbles in return and glares at her daughter. So much for the happy reunion.

"Fucking really never heard a shit about how to care for your family." A new voice mixes in as Lovina approaches side by side with Antonio. With one arm comfortably wrapped around the teenager's shoulder, the man greets the tense family with a happy smile. "Let's get this over with."

"Good evening! Amelia, Miss Kirkland… and…"

"Matthew…"

"Matthew, right. How are you doing?"

xxx

Unfortunately, the Tomato Bastard's arms around her shoulder make sure to keep Lovina from dashing off and slapping the annoying She-Bastard in the face. Just what the fuck?! She still doesn't get it. She's been trying to explain the situation to the _Idiota_ before, but somehow she just can't manage. Amelia kept talking bullshit about the _Idiota_ and Alice hooking up. She acted all clingy and when Lovina tried to bring some distance between the two of them. Somehow, it all turned into a shouting match because the She-Bastard kept on talking like a total idiot and then they were suddenly surrounded by teachers calling for the headmaster.

"GOOD EVENING! Everyone's already gathered together?" –Speak of the devil. The tall woman with her annoyingly flashy red business outfit swings the doors of her office open to greet everyone. Fucking shit. HOW did she ever get promoted…

"Alice." The headmaster strikes some weird pose reminding one of a salute before breaking into laughter and Lovina blinks in irritation when the blonde adult in question greets the strange woman with a poker face as if the headmaster's odd behaviour were a daily routine. As if every fucking crazy behaviour of hers wouldn't be weirding the shit out of any normal human being. "Long time no see! What've you been up to?"

"Hello, Miss Køhler. Please remember that we are at the school because of a fight between our children." Ignoring the informal greeting, Alice immediately puts up a professional front and behaves as if today was the first day she meets the crazy Dane.

Hushing to the Englishwoman why the heck she would know the noisy headmaster, Lovina's eyes widen at the explanation of how Alice's colleague rooms together with the tall woman. "How does she manage to survive living in the same household?" the teenager inquires shocked, earning a shrug in return. The woman in question doesn't leave them any more time to wonder about what kind of person would actually choose to live with the noisy Dane as he shoos them inside her office.

And there one could think Miss Ko-whatever wouldn't mean any trouble… As she learned today, that's just wishful thinking. Always those fucking teachers insisting they need to talk this fight out. Noisy. Annoying. Boring. Why does she need to be here again?

Everyone else doesn't seem to mind. The _Idiota_ and Amelia engage in small-talk with the headmaster just a bit too quickly and leave Alice and Lovina standing outside the door as if they forgot what they even came here for.

"Mum?" The voice barely breaks through the noisy chit-chat exchange between the annoying combination of she-bastard and headmaster-bastard accompanied by the laughter of the tomato-bastard. The quiet word is barely loud enough for Lovina to register it yet clear enough to make Alice stop before following them inside.

Quickly returning to… most likely her son, the Englishwoman smiles gently when he shyly asks if she would mind him dropping by for some tea sometime. "Of course not." The blonde woman stutters somewhat awkwardly and her cheeks turn reddish, which earns her a chuckled comment of her son.

" _Maman_ , no need to blush when talking to your son." He tries to wink but it ends up looking weird and his cheeks also turn slightly pink.

"I'm not…!" The woman tries to defend herself, but the nervous actions of mother and son end up making them break into a relieved smile, closing distance between the two blondes. Alice gently takes her son's hand into hers for a second and locks eyes with him before she turns back to the door still standing open, a happy sparkle in her green eyes. When the door closes, Lovina takes one more glance at the tall freshman standing outside.

What was his name again?

 **xxx**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian**

 _Zio_ = Uncle

 _Sì_ = Yes

 _Lasciarmi_ = Leave me alone/ Let me go

 _Idiota_ = Idiot

 **Spanish**

 _Sí_ = Yes

 _Gracias_ = Thank you

 _Pequeña_ = Little (girl)

 **French**

 _Papa_ = Dad

 _Maman_ = Mum

 _Salut_ = Hi/ Hello

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Food:**

 **Somehow, everyone always ends up bribing Lovi with food… *cough* Now then… As long as it's good food…**

 **Probably 'cause I'm similar :'D It's always good if there's yummy food to look forward to. ;P**

 **xxx**

 **UKCan:**

 **Ok, SOOO unsure about this one… OOC? Is it? Is Alice? Or would she actually allow to drop her Tsun-tsun guard when facing her son after such a long time?**

 **Whatever your thoughts, if you wish to communicate them, write me.**

 **I'm just SO glad I could finally bring this reunion-scene which's been sitting on my computer for about ten chapteeers! Here it is!**

 **xxx**

 **Have a nice week!**

 **-Himawari**


	29. The Spanish-British relations

The situation's progressed well so far. Amelia, no, AgentRebornAvenger is content with the outcome of their last step. Within the blink of an eye, both subjects reported at the current scene.

However... Her eyes roll over to the old hag and Tonio -the current situation is not a really helpful for investigations. Everybody is acting somewhat stiff and formal, much to the blonde teenager's dislike.

At least Martina is a funny person and pretty easy to get along with. One more time, it makes the high schooler wonder how her mother could be friends with such awesome people but still act as if she's got a stick up her ass.

Eyes narrowing, she glances towards her guardian and immediately looks away. The old hag's been staring at her with a killer glance since the beginning of this whole shi... Nope! This is not what she is supposed to be looking at right now! She looks over to Tonio who, unusually quiet tonight, keeps his eyes locked with Grumpy and making faces as if communicating with her.

Great. So much for new evidence so far. She wouldn't want to admit it, but she has to say the current situation is rather unfit to observe any romantic feelings. Even their greeting was plain and short, even though she could SWEAR the two adults locked eyes a bit longer than actually necessary.

"Now then. Amelia Bonnefoy, would you mind telling us your point of view as well?" The loud voice makes the blonde snap out if her thoughts and whirl around. She didn't realize, but Grumpy just explained what happened during lunch break. And she didn't pay attention! Uh-oh. Shouldn't happen to a hero! Then again, 'cause she IS the hero after all; in other words the main protagonist and leading agent; its clear Grumpy's description wouldn't differ from hers. "Amelia Joanna Bonnefoy... Ain't gonna wait for ages, you know. Just tell us something" Martina yawns as Amelia progresses her words.

"It's Amelia E Jones, duh." As soon as the words are spoken, the secret Agent realizes she just gave her real name away! At least the others don't seem to realize. –Or maybe they do and as soon as they leave the room, she is dooomeeed! Better inform Mattie. She'll let him inherit her Disney-collection. And the Marvel collection will go to Kiku. Yeah. That sounds good.

Martina waves with her hand and explains whichever is fine as long as she starts her story. All eyes turn to look at Amelia. The girl takes a few seconds to soak in the attention before she starts to show off her AMAZING narrating skills!

xxx

"To sum it up, NOTHING happened!" Lovina would love to facepalm. Whatever the fuck was going on during lunchbreak; it is certainly NOT as Amelia just portrayed it.

This is the worst situation EVER. Stupid headmaster, stupid She-Bastard and annoying Tomato Bastard. However, the only sane person in the room –Alice- decided to keep quiet for the whole time even though she should be the VERY person to know how her daughter can be. Shouldn't she help Lovina out and support her story?! It's high time for Lovina to state the facts!

"Bullshit!" The brunette buts in, ready to vent her displeasure about the stupidly made-up story. "It was no sloppy soap-opera shit like that! No stupid «Friendly playing around». That bitch just felt touchy feely out of nowhere and didn't realize the line between invading personal space and hitting someone in the face!"

"Lovi~ Language…" The Tomato Bastard can't help but comment everything the kids say while Alice keeps glaring at her daughter as if she wanted to kill her. During the whole angry discussions, the headmaster remains quiet and listens to the fights with a raised eyebrow. Then, laughing loudly at the Idiota's comment, she seems to finally step in and make it clear Amelia's story is stupid and let Lovina off:

"Now now… Everybody settle down." With a stupid grin, the headmaster raises to walk around the huge desk and swing one arm around Amelia. Lovina tries to evade the second arm only to feel it lock around her neck just the second after. Cursing loudly doesn't help nor does struggling. That damned woman seems to be crazy strong. "All I can see here is a couple of high school girls playing around." She whirls around, dragging the complaining girls along and Lovina has to realize the adult is too stupid to actually decide whether to believe that annoying blonde's made-up shit or the brunette's TRUTH! "Now… what do you two think?"

Lovina takes her time to watch the two adults standing in front of them. Not like she only does it because the headmaster forces her to… Alice straight position though she doesn't give of the elegant air but instead looks rather stressed out with arms crossed and piercing eyes fixed on her daughter. Contrasting to her tense stance, the Tomato Bastard stands relaxed, hands shoved into his pockets and a stupid smile on his face just as if nothing happened.

Without waiting for a response, the headmaster clicks with her tongue and sighs deeply. "Kiiids! Look, I really don't like to do this, but we can't have you guys fighting during lunchbreak; whatever your motivation might be." She stops to pull the two girls closer. WAAAY to close! If her locking her arm around Lovina's neck wasn't already five meters too close anyways. "And… As you can see, your parents don't really know what to say either so… I decided you guys shooould…" Dramatic pause… And then, with a dashing smile, she states her decision: "You need to strengthen your bond!"

Bond… "Which fucking bond?! There is none…" Lovina's complaining goes unheard as the She-Bastard agrees loudly with the Headmaster-Bastard. However, the blonde high schooler's excitement doesn't last long as the Dane continues:

"To make sure you guys do that, you'll do some research about the Spanish-British relations."

Amelia, busy with sticking her tongue out at her mother almost chokes when she hears the news. "The what?"

"Excuse me?" For the first time that evening, even Alice seems irritated. She exchanges a look with the Tomato Bastard. –One without ANY hearts flying in the back ground, just to be mentioned.

"Woah, woah, wait… What a lame subject! I mean… IF we even need to do something like strengthening our already super strong FRIENDSHIP bond, wouldn't it make more sense to go out and practise…?"

Lovina feels the arm around her neck disappear as the headmaster draws back and returns to her table. "Nah, it's already decided. You're dismissed." She sits down on her desk with crossed legs and starts to fondle for her phone.

"So not-cool! Why such a boring subject? I mean, which countries again? And why…"

Without even looking up, the Dane dials a number on her phone and mumbles. "Rejected. 'Cause I'm the awesome boss here you guys got to follow my decisions. Oh and by the way, don't you have the experts standing at your side already?" She waves a hand towards Alice and the _Idiota_. "Just ask them." She holds the phone against her ear and waits. "Ah yeah, and hand it in by Friday. Ten pages."

"WHAAAAT?!"

xxx

Alice knits her eyebrows. «You've got the experts right there»? Bloody hell! She doesn't know how much Luca told her roommate, but for Martina to come up with a weird thing like this... What is she trying to achieve? Does she actually think Amelia would ever so much as THINK about asking her mother for information for some random punishment the headmaster told her to do? No bloody way. She would bet her wand...

"Sure. So we'll just ask our parents then" The million-watt smile of her daughter makes the Englishwoman glad she didn't finish the thought. She wouldn't want to lose her wand just because Amelia agrees to something at random. After all, who says they will actually come and ask? Not like the teenager would just google anything today anyways... "Mum, when can we come over?"

Blinking in confusion, Alice responds automatically: "Tuesday and Wednesday after Five thirty; Thursday after seven." Right. She's got a late shift on Thursday... Oh! But didn't she make plans with...

"All right! -Can we leave now? We've got some BONDING to do!" With these words, Amelia turns, swings her arm around a puzzled Lovina's neck and drags her outside, leaving a startled Englishwoman behind. Carriedo wishes the two women in the office a good evening before he excuses himself to follow his daughter.

"What the fucking HELL?! Curses and spells, Martina, what STUPID idea was that?!" The Dane sits on her desk, legs crossed and smiles innocently, phone against her ear. "And stop faking. If you were ACTUALLY talking to Luca, you wouldn't stop talking even when she scolds you."

"You got me~" The spiky haired woman's smile turns into a teasing grin. She puts the phone away and leans forward to look Alice in the eyes. "You know, I've always been taking care of others. It never gets boring, but it's just so much fun to mess with a stuck up, stubborn Englishwoman's life." Her typically loud laughter resounds in the office. "Alice, chill! Just take the opportunity to bake one of your layered killer-cakes and give your relationship with Amelia a second chance."

Grabbing her bag, the Englishwoman turns on her heels and clacks towards the door. Just who does that stupid headmaster think she is?! And just HOW the heck did she get Amelia to agree?! Facing the wooden door she remembers from her own time in school, Alice turns a little to mumble a: "Thank you." Before she leaves the room and enters the empty hallway.

A cheerful " _Ingen_ _å_ _rsag_ " answers from the office as Alice's eyes wander through the empty hallway opening up in front of her. She passed through the doors of this office many times when she was still a high schooler herself. However, never to get a scolding from the headmaster, but due to student council duties. Thinking back now, times, people and situations she forgot for a long time make her feel melancholic. How many years has it been? How is everybody doing? With time, the people she still kept in touch with became little. And after she divorced Francis, even her Frenemies came to see her less.

The Englishwoman shakes her head. No time to get depressed over people she lost contact with. After all, the important ones remained.

Returning from the land of thoughts, the blonde woman suddenly realizes she's standing in front of the student council room.

"Silly gal." She shakes her head. It is very unlikely she could find the door unlocked. Even so, she tries. And the door doesn't budge.

The adult laughs at the irony. Back when she was still student council president, she had the keys to open the door. She gave the keys back when she left school. Now, this door is closed for her and she can't open it again. Like many other doors that were once open. Friendships, places, possibilities.

Maybe, just maybe Luca and Martina just gave her the possibility to open a side door to one of these lost relationships.

xxx

After making sure to get Lovi back from Amelia before Lovi starts fighting for her freedom herself and getting the blonde girl wounded, Antonio had to face another fight as his daughter wouldn't want to understand why he refused to let her drive. Lovina is fuming. Knowing her temper, he wouldn't want to risk his car getting crushed. Finally, after agreeing she can drive back from Lovi's place homewards, the dark brown haired girl agreed to hand the keys back.

"Damned She-bastard! Just WHO's friends with whom? Fucking bullshit! And what stupid project?! I thought she didn't want to see Alice even if it cost her life!" Grumbling angrily, Lovi sinks down on the seat and angrily stares out of the window.

Antonio for once doesn't know what to answer. It's true, that the girl acted extremely friendly towards Lovina and immediately agreed to cooperate with her mother, but somehow it didn't feel genuine. "Don't think too much about it, Roma. Just come home as usual tomorrow; and we can invite Amelia to come over after dinner for one hour or something, _s_ _í_?"

Her gaze still fixed on the houses passing by, Lovi doesn't answer. Wondering, if his little girl is pouting the Spaniard reaches out to pat her head when he realizes how her lips curl into a grin.

"No… That would be too easy…" The sound of her voice gives her thoughts away before she even words them and Antonio curses himself for leaving his phone in the jacket he threw on the backseat. With a smug grin and a cheeky glint in her green eyes, Lovina almost glows with confidence and mischief. "Let's go to Alice's. I wanna see that She-Bastard making a fool of herself trying to act indifferent in front of her mother."

 **xxx**

A/N

 **Translations:**

 **Italian**

 _Idiota_ = Idiot

 **Danish**

 _Ingen_ _å_ _rsag_ = You're welcome

 **xxx**

 **First of all, SORRY!**

 **The last weeks have been really busy and I don't know where to find time for myself RN… :( I started some sort of school and right now my life consists of working and studying…**

 **I don't want to, but I won't be able to update on a regular one-weekly basis anymore. I'll write and update whenever I find the time to. Sorry! I hope I will manage a way so I can come back with weekly or maybe fortnightly updates soon :(**

 **-Himawari**


	30. Do you like or dislike that idea?

Once more, Alice fishes for the key in her bag to unlock the door and enter her quiet hallway. The smell of candles still lingering in the air mixing with freshly baked scones she made… "FUCK!" Without taking her heels off, the Englishwoman storms inside and dashes towards her oven. Scones. She… How could she…

Cursing colourfully, the blonde opens the oven and almost chocks at the black cloud steaming out and spreading throughout her kitchen. Holding her breath, Alice places the burned pastries showing a frustrating similarity to charcoal on the table and starts opening every window she can find as when she hears the bell ring.

Still coughing, the blonde stumbles towards the door and opens it without thinking. " _Porca troia_! Are you trying to poison us before we even enter the house?!" Raising her head in surprise, Alice takes a step backwards and finds herself faced with three uninvited guests.

"What the fuck were you doing THIS time?! You didn't actually try to summon some odd creature to take care of us, did you?" Without wasting time for greetings or coughing, Amelia passes her mother and heads towards the kitchen. "Holy shit?!" Her head pops out of the doorframe. "I didn't know your cooking skills could get even worse than they already are! –You know it's not yet time to prepare gifts, unless… do you REALLY plan to kill somebody this time? I'm sure they will be rotten completely by the next holiday."

Alice sighs in defeat remembering the fateful punishment Martina assigned the two teenage girls. "Right. The Spanish-British relations, was it?" Feeling the start of a headache and rubs her temples. "Amelia, just leave the scones there and…"

"Those are SCONES?!" The girl shrieks and the adult hears something crash.

"They were supposed to be scones, yes… The oven is broken… Never mind." Alice waves a hand through mid-air and gives up trying to explain herself. Though knowing this is a white lie, now the oven might actually be broken. Or she will at least make sure she doesn't use it within the next few days.

Shaking her head, Alice accepts the fact that these three just turned up without informing her in advance and welcomes Lovina. Compared to Amelia, the brunette takes their time which Alice accepts with a shrug before her eyes dart towards the teenager's guardian. Seeing him standing there, Carriedo doesn't seem to think about saying good bye. Instead, he starts making himself at home by taking a proper look around. When he spots the broken vase sitting on the shoe shelf, a small smile meets his lips. Before he can start teasing, the Englishwoman invites him to take his leave now. "Ah, the girls asked me to come over as well. It's better if they can ask both of us at the same time, isn't it?" Inwardly cursing whoever came up with the hilarious idea of bringing the Git here in the first place, the Englishwoman realizes the unfamiliar height difference.

"Why are you still wearing your shoes?" Lovina interrupts and takes the opportunity from Alice to tell the git to leave her entrance while he still wears them. Alice's focus shifts from the Spanish intruder to her black pumps as she slides them off. "And can't you do something about this smell?!" Wrinkling her nose, the brunette disappears off towards the kitchen. Shortly after, Alice hears how the door of her fridge is opened and sighs.

" _Lo siento~"_ Thinking about how the two girls couldn't possibly be on such bad terms if the first thing they do in a house they don't live in is rummage through the fridge for some ice cream and empty her stock of crisps, she simply overhears Carriedo's apology resounding with a warm laugh. "Where should I put my bag?" Waving a hand, the Englishwoman points towards the hatstand and hardly recognizes Carriedo hesitating. "Ah, _casi me ovido_ ; this is the dinner we brought…"

"Dinner? I'd rather we get this over with quick…" Exactly. Make sure everyone sits down, the girls do their job and Carriedo keeps the facts short. However, her delusions of this assembly ending soon and without a lot of trouble is interrupted by a game opening loudly resounding through the walls. "Amelia…!" And the moment she realizes her daydream crumble, Alice swears to herself she will make sure neither of her uninvited guests gets ANY chance to act out. This is HER house after all. HER rules.

With these firm decision in mind, the Englishwoman rushes to the living room.

xxx

Antonio counts to three and waits for the… "What the heck?! Such a stupid game! Don't you have better ones?!" Yes, exactly these complaints. It was a given Roma would…

"Girls!" Alice's voice snaps and the music is immediately turned off. Fondly listening to the little fight breaking out in the living room, his lips curl into a smile. In the end, Lovi really seems to get along well with the two blondes.

"MUM! Give the remote back!" Judging by the angry voices coming from the living room, Antonio guesses it should be fine to just start heating the food. He enters the kitchen and prepares a pot of hot water.

"Bloody hell, you're here to STUDY!"

"Oh stop the nagging! We…" And so they continue, volume slowly increasing. Lovi eventually stops joining the fight and her acting all quiet while the mother-daughter fight continues makes the Spaniard wonder if he should try and step in.

Apparently, he doesn't need to. "Hey!" Roma's complaint cuts the endless arguing. "You just knocked my bowl over!" Antonio can almost see how the angry voice makes the two blondes whirl around and stop mid-sentence. Within five seconds, a cursing, grumbling Englishwoman enters the kitchen to get a cleaning cloth. The Spaniard smiles at her angry glinting eyes rolling as soon as they hear Lovi's next words: "Now... Don't you have any GOOD games?"

"Bloody hell! Five minutes! It takes them cursed FIVE minutes to ruin my evening, my house and my mood!" With fast steps, Alice heads towards the sink and opens the tap.

Without a word, the man takes a cup from the cupboard and places it down. "Tea?" Alice sighs and nods her head only to freeze in her movements as she hears the «Mario kart» intro. Hiding his chuckle, Antonio turns to take out some pans and a spatula and place them on the cooker. "Don't mind them. It'll take some time for the dinner to warm up. Why don't you let them play some games?" With a sideways glance, he looks at the angry blonde still wearing the same outfit as she did at the office. Her blonde hair strictly held back with pins and a black pencil skirt combined with a tight blazer gives off professional vibes. She looks gorgeous.

"And who" Her piercing green eyes turn towards him "allowed you to casually enter my kitchen and start cooking?! Get your hands off of my kitchen tools, Git!" Antonio halts in his movement to think. Should he? With a grin, he whirls the spatula through the air and catches it again.

" _Querida_ ~ What if I don't want to?" A grin steals its way on his face as a reaction to the angry glint lighting up her green eyes. Not because of her daughter. Not because Lovi's ice is melting on her couch. But simply because of him. Some things just never change~.

"Hey, where can I get a cleaning cloth?" Sad, the short moment of glaring at one another is over, Antonio places the spatula down and starts unpacking his bag while Alice hands the cloth to Lovina. The girl disappears once more. Within the blink of an eye, the blonde Englishwoman steps closer to block his way to the stove. Ready to say something else, their conversation gets cut off yet again when Lovina returns to wash the cloth out and refill her bowl with some ice cream. Antonio suppresses a sigh. Yes, some things never change but others do. He realizes the glare the teenager sends him and takes a slow step backwards to put some distance between himself and Alice.

As soon as the girl disappears out of the door however, Antonio tries to start up a conversation one more time but is cut off before he even opens his mouth. "Out." Alice lifts a single finger to point at him first, then towards the door. "Now."

"Miss Kirkland." With a gently persuasive smile, the man ignores her commanding tone and turns towards his bag. "I thought you like to have some fresh seafood once in a while. I just got it from the market. Wouldn't it be a shame if it got to waste?" Swiftly, he holds up a pack of prawns and gently pushes the blonde's slim arm aside so he can access the stove. "If you don't mind, could you chop the garlic?"

"If you mind, can I cut off your hand if you DARE touch me or anything in this house one more time?" Alice glares back at him fiercely and slaps his hand away. Suppressing a chuckle, the man inquires if her cooking skills did indeed get worse. "Excuse me?"

" _Querida_ ~" Slowly stretching his hand towards her just to stop his movement and turns the direction he reaches out to the knife block Antonio smiles and whispers how he doubts prawns and human flesh go well together. He takes a look at the knives, weighs them in his hand and decides. "I'd rather we stick to the recipe." Watching her face flush some adorable shades of pink, the brunette takes his time to turn and get his own knife and the garlic from his bag. With a challenging smile, he spins the borrowed knife in his hand and stops the movement as soon the handle faces Alice and offers it to the blonde. "Or did you also forget how to use kitchen knives?"

Her fingers lock around the wooden handle as she takes the cold metal from his hands without another word and turns to get the cutting boards. She slams two of them down next to the sink. "Mind your words, or you'll learn a lesson you'll regret." The knife blade in Alice's hand reflects the sunlight while her eyes reflect the fire burning inside.

"Try me." He swiftly moves his fingers to spin the second knife in his hand before he slams down the cloves and starts peeling them within the blink of an eye. Then drops half of them on Alice's board and both start chopping as fast as they can in silent agreement whoever is faster wins.

xxx

Even though she did her best to mess with the weird mood in the kitchen at the beginning of… Whatever is going on right now, Lovina couldn't come up with another simple excuse to waltz inside and interrupt the conversation between the Tomato Bastard and Alice. This and the fact the _Bastardo_ is whirling knives… THE FUCKING SHE-BASTARD keeps blocking her way! Yeah! Because the annoying blonde insists on spying on them through the partly open door. Which doesn't work either because the She-Bastard just won't move an inch so Lovina could see what's going on.

"What are they talking about?" The annoying blonde asks for the hundredth-something time without waiting for an answer and instead complains about Lovina being too noisy while scraping the lasts bit of ice cream together. The brunette just grumbles, too busy making sure to enjo… finish the last bits of her not-half-as-bad snack. Not her fucking fault Alice only owns glass and ceramic bowls.

"How should I know?! Some annoying girl keeps chewing crisps so loudly I can't hear a thing!" Yet another two hundred –somethingth time, the South European tries to shove the other girl aside. Just how much space can a sixteen years old girl take up?!

"What's that «guerrilla»-thing mean?" A short pause follows –Very short one, before the She-Bastard starts to come up with another apocalyptic scenario and her mind goes nuts making up bullshit about the two adults being involved in some world-destroying group…

"It's « _Querida_ »! And how the fuck did you manage to miss out on common sense? These two are neither playing romance nor planning a rebellion against humanity..." She sees the second knife glint as the Tomato Bastard whirls it around a few times. "Holy shit?!" The brunette would bet a year's worth of tomatoes he would cut his fingers off but nothing happens. The _Idiota_ just happily starts peeling garlic. Fucking BASTARD. Scaring her and…

"You were sayin'?" A content hum vibrates in Amelia's chest. "It was just~ my imagination." She snickers, fucking content she could prove her point right after Lovina's complaint. "And just now they were talking about cutting people's hands off. But, it's a-l-l just my imagination" Unnecessarily stretching the words, the She-Bastard leans back and gives her a nudge. "As I told you, there IS something fishy going on between them."

Ignoring the blush slowly crawling over her face for being shut up this easily, the brunette refuses to look at the girl's triumphant blue eyes. She doesn't even need to look, just by hearing the tone of the blonde's voice suggest the image of that damned grin showing off her white teeth and a single eyebrow raised as she glances at Lovina sideways. "They've been fighting since they were kids. Do you really expect them to get along just like that?" Lovina pouts because she doesn't want to admit the challenging grin on the bastards face and his swift movements with the knife felt alien to her. "N… Nothing out of the ordinary."

"By the way…" Amelia nudges her shoulder once more but this time Lovina slaps her hand away. "Great acting on your part." It takes some time for the brunette to realize what the blonde is talking about.

"Of course!" she grins as an answer even though she can't help but complain as to why she should sacrifice her _gelato_ just to make sure Alice returns to the kitchen. "What's more, I needed to do something because SOMEBODY else kinda forgot her own bullshit plan and started bickering with her mum!"

"Can't help it if the old hag starts nagging!" Lovina immediately regrets turning her way to make her point: Crumps of crisps spill from her mouth because the She-Bastard can't decide whether to binge eat remembering how pissed she was just some moments ago or to complain. The angry crunching mixes with the chopping sounds coming from the kitchen.

"Move, Git." Alice's demanding tone ends the silence between the two adults while they glared at their hands almost chopping their fingers off. Declaring her victory, the blonde asks what to do with the garlic next.

A disappointed sigh from the Tomato Bastard turns her facial expression from triumphant to seriously pissed within the blink of an eye. The Bastard however shows a knowing smirk and explains she cut them too small. And to thin. And they vary in size. Another sigh. "You really are helpless. I bet you couldn't prepare a full meal without messing up, could you?"

Almost about to interrupt the Bastard to declare the Englishwoman could pretty well prepare a (almost, well, still kinda) decent menu, Lovina spots the prawns the _Idiota_ prepares before he pours some oil in the pan to fry the garlic. " _Questa è una mossa scorretta, Bastardo_ " The teenager grumbles even though she knows the _Bastardo_ can't hear it. Still, that's such an unfair move! Little ingredients, short prep time and an amazing result. There's no way Alice could beat that!

However, the Englishwoman doesn't seem to allow the _Idiota_ to break her fighting spirits. "You bet! Come by tomorrow to taste the BEST Ale pie you've ever tasted!"

"Gladly." His hummed answer is filled with sunshine and warmth similar to the times when he got Lovina to agree to do something she did NOT want to do. " _Querida_ , would you mind setting the table and call the girls?"

Still bothered by the urge to warn the Englishwoman, the brunette feels the unpleasant presence of another person sticking to close to her disappear as the She-Bastard jumps backwards. "Crap!" The blonde girl dashes towards the couch and slops down as if she has been sitting there since the very beginning. Lovina can barely get back up and hurry towards the living room before the door to the kitchen opens her and Alice steps outside.

"Amelia, Lovina. Dinner is ready." The blonde's voice sounds different from usual and her eyes are still piercing. Her expression changes slightly to one of annoyance as soon as she spots the blonde girl lying all sprawled out over the couch chewing on a crisp giving her mother a thumbs-up. Then her green eyes trail to the brunette. Lovina rolls her eyes and the adult mirrors her expression. After a sigh, she tells them to come eat in five minutes.

As soon as the Englishwoman turns around again to set the table, Amelia turns to lie on her belly and faces Lovina. "So, what do you say? They DID behave oddly, didn't they?" Lovina shrugs her shoulders as a simple reply which doesn't really give off her opinion. "Now." Amelia waves her hand to tell her to come closer. Which she doesn't, forcing Amelia to talk louder even though she'd rather the She-Bastard would just shut up. "I KNOW these two fight a lot. Like, my mum fights with basically anyone she knows; while her calling them an idiot and such almost counts as a friendly standard-greeting for some people; these same words are equal to a threat when talking to others. BUT. Did you see that glint in her eyes?"

Lovina shrugs her shoulders once more. "So what?" It looked like simple challenge mode to her.

"Simple challenge mode? Nah!" Almost jumping up in an excitement Lovina can't make out where it comes from, the She-Bastard shakes her head and explains as if the other girl was some sort of retard: "Mum wouldn't act like that with anybody else I know! Be it fighting with Dad, with Gil or with Martina; or even worse with her brothers! She acts completely different! AND!" Lovina doesn't like where this is going therefore she displays her best uninterested face. "If she really didn't care about Tonio, she wouldn't care if he tried to provoke her! After all, the opposite of love isn't hate but indifference!"

Wondering where the She-Bastard stole that quote, the South European tries to think of a line to reply and crash that annoying energetic reasoning to bits and pieces but the delicious smell coming from the kitchen combined with her grumbling stomach calls for another focus. Dinner is ready. –It might still be early, but how could she say no to a delicious meal?

However, there is one thing which still bothers her. One detail which might be just THE comment to help her get rid of the annoying girl sticking way to close! Because it is NOT nice being the only one getting pushed in a corner. "By the way, I don't really get whether you like or dislike the idea there might be something going on between our parents. Which one is it?" Lovina wants to pat herself on the back as the other girl's facial expression changes to a puzzled one. Seeing how she almost walks into the doorframe, Lovina starts snickering at the She-Bastard's stupid expression. "Don't tell me you were so busy proofing you're right you forgot this is about your mother, _Tonta_!"

xxx

"Oh shut up!" Amelia grumbles angrily and tries to ignore the mocking chuckles. Just a few seconds ago everything seemed to go according to plan. Who would have thought one simple sentence could complicate everything. It's not like she forgot… It's just… In the excitement she kinda ignored how serious this situation is.

"Is… Everything all right?" Glad the familiar voice interrupts her train of thought, Amelia almost misses the fact it's actually the old hag looking at Grumpy with worry. Great. Grumpy is shaking with laughter (almost), her stick-up-in-the-ass mother is worried. WORRIED. And shows it. Tonio watches them with his usual beaming smile. The whole fucking situation feels so wrong, it's like this video of some event Kiku once showed her. It was much fun but also really confusing, because the voice actors of this certain funny anime swapped roles. SO confusing. After watching the weird scene for a bit, Amelia decides she'll stop thinking about it.

Mattie's constant «Wouldn't it be all right?» and her dad's endless talk about romance when she stayed for dinner last Sunday must have confused her. Her mum in a relationship with ANYONE else but her dad? No. Her mum and her dad back together…? Not really a good idea either. She can see that now.

Amelia decides to think about this later. She can still think about whether she likes it or not AFTER she proves to Grumpy there IS something going on.

Based on that she and Grumpy can start planning the second half of their mission. Which will be a lot tougher (And maybe ask Mattie to help out, depending on what kind of mission it will be and what the goal of it will look like).

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Porca troia_ = holy shit

 _Bastardo_ = bastard

 _Idiota_ = idiot

 _Questa è una mossa scorretta_ = That's an unfair move

 _Tonta_ = stupid (fem.)

 **Spanish:**

 _Lo siento_ = I'm sorry

 _casi me ovido_ = I almost forgot

 _Querida_ = Beloved

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer**

 **The quote «The opposite of love isn't hate but indifference» is from Elie Wiesel. I don't own it. –there might be other quotes throughout the story where I'm not aware of the fact that somebody else said/ wrote them. They don't belong to me either.**

 **xxx**

 **I'll try my best to update on weekends, but still can't promise. SORRY**

 **\- Himawari**


	31. Miss Kirkland

" _¡Aquí tiene!_ _Gazpacho_ , _gambas al ajillo_ and freshly baked bread from the market. Help yourselves." With a wide grin, Tonio presents the dishes which feel totally out of place in the house of the old, stuck up hag with her potatoes, beef and carrots. Heck, the whole plate looks just so mouth-watering…! Amelia makes a bee-line to get the largest plate she can find, partly remembering their purpose of coming together tonight.

Hiding behind her plate while sneaking some bread on it, Amelia glances from person to person. The mention of the food proves helpful witch changing not only Amelia's mood, but also everybody else's. Grumpy turns towards the food with her expression going all… Well, whatever Grumpy's relaxed(?); happy(?) face is like. Her worried mother throws a glare towards Tonio before focusing on the food as well acting all… her British-self like. Nothing out of the ordinary; or rather nothing of enough importance to distract her from getting something yummy between her teeth.

Busy with filling her plate and balancing half of the prawns, a bowl with cold soup and a few pieces of bread, Amelia doesn't really focus on anything they are talking about. She knows her mum is nagging about her taking too much but calmed down by Tonio laughing and explaining «Miss Kirkland» he could easily cook some more. Wait…

"Dude, why're you acting all weird and formal? 'That some weird game between you two?" Amelia looks back and forth between the two adults arguing over the pots with a puzzled expression. She wonders if her mind just played a trick on her or if they really changed the way they address one another. Which is just SO weird!

Smiling, Tonio just shrugs his shoulders "Your mother asked me to use her maiden name instead."

She makes a face at the grinning brunette making his expression change from oblivious to hiding a snort. "Who the heck would do that? That's totes creepy! Why?" Shaking her head in disbelief, Amelia turns towards the old hag, making sure her sceptical expression looks even funnier; one eyebrow raised, the other narrowed and one eye squeezed together and so on.

The stubborn woman doesn't even blink at her CUTE daughter's funny expression as she plainly states she'd rather keep it like that. "It's not like we are close friends." And turns towards the pans to take the last prawns on her empty plate.

Amelia blinks once more, her face muscles reshaping from sceptical to a frown. Something doesn't add up with this confusing change of habits. "Duh, but you've known each other since childhood, haven't you? And you've called Tonio by his first name for ages. Isn't it rather weird to change that suddenly?"

"Actually…" Tonio drops in and sits down next to Grumpy leaving only the old hag's «I always sit there so don't you dare sit on that chair» and the chair next to it. "We've had a habit of calling each other by our last names ever since your parents got married."

"We've had a habit to not talk at all." Sending a glare towards the man at her kitchen table, the Englishwoman's cold voice cuts through the weird scene of Tonio fawning all over «His Lovi».

Her grumbling stomach distracts the blonde teenager from standing in the kitchen like an idiot any longer and she slumps down next to –her frown deepens –the old hag's chair and; luckily, Grumpy. Lovina. Whichever.

Amelia quickly takes some bites and HOLY SHIT! It DOES taste just as freaking awesome as she expected it would. Nothing, and she repeats NOTHING can match a hotdog from the food stand next to their high school, but it does get pretty close. Will be written down on her list of foods she'll have to eat again as many times as possible before she dies. Stuffing her mouth with another helping, Amelia can't help it but turn towards Grumpy to ask the other teenager about her opinion on this whole BS.

Shielding her face as if afraid she might accidentally leak crucial information to the suspects, Grumpy –as amazing of an agent as she is; which Amelia just realized- she frowns and explains she doesn't understand her.

"Ah, *munch much* right! *swallow, chomp, much* Y' *munch* re right. Can't *chomp, chomp* talk about *swallow* that here, right!"

Grumpy shakes her head once more. " _Stasate_! I really can't understand you. Shut the fuck up and stop spiting food all over the table!"

A plate is set down next to the blonde still trying to decipher Grumpy's probably hidden message or evaluate she actually meant what she just said. "My words." Judging by the content grin settling on the brunette's face as she exchanges a look with the woman sitting down opposite of her, Amelia guesses the second must be it. Stuck between following her fellow agent's request and purposely overhearing her mother's complaint, the teenager settles on the first option. After all they're not here to pick a fight.

Getting lost in the excitement of discovering the truth, the blonde agent almost forgot she was fighting with her mother. However, even though she remembered it again; now is not the time to continue where they left off. After all, once this is over, there might be drastic changes to their current family situation, changing some reasons for their differences. Might.

"I get it, I get it! So. Lovina… Don't you think it's weird? Like…" She turns her full attention to face Grumpy and Tonio; with a movement of her head telling her fellow agent to observe the old hag in her stead. "Tonio and my mum met like… twenty years ago? Twenty five? –Never mind. In other words they were babies and probably addressed each other with… «An'io» and «A'ice» or something because they weren't able to pronounce each other's names. Went to the same kindergarten, primary school and everything; graduated together from high school, she married his best friend and now…" dramatic pause "They call each other «Mister Carriedo» and «Miss Kirkland»." Waving her fork through the air all during her sum up, it jumps once more to point at the Englishwoman and the Spaniard before it freezes in front of Grumpy's face. "'s that make sense to you?"

The brunette slowly moves her head from one side to another which the wavy haired teenager acknowledges with a content grin directed at the other blonde.

"See?"

"If you may." She starts with that voice that already makes you feel pissed off only hearing it. "Firstly: I called him «Tio» because he didn't manage to pronounce his own name properly so I didn't even know he was actually called «Antonio»." A cough from the other side of the table indicates she speaks the truth. "And secondly, it is perfectly reasonable to call someone by their family name. I may call anyone however I want to call them. Therefore I wonder if you" her green eyes narrow and Amelia feels her glare rest on herself "with this annoying habit of calling people by random nicknames, be the right person to correct me?"

xxx

Lovina snorts and immediately turns to ignore the warning look of the bastard. _Idiota_ should return to eating his dinner!

"Did you just compare nicknames and unnecessary formalities the same?" The She-Bastard continues spilling crap as neither of the brunettes dare to interrupt the little disagreement between their host and her daughter. "Nicknames are used for friends. Last names for strangers. –Your logic doesn't make any sense besides showing once more how hard you try to keep people at arm's length!"

Lovina watches Alice's eyes narrow at that comment. As much as the South European hates to admit it, that one round was won by Amelia. The Englishwoman remains quiet, as if thinking about how answer to the accusation.

Before Alice can speak up, another voice does: "You know, rather than «Alice», when we were kids I called her «Li…»" A warning glare and a suppressed yelp at getting kicked under the table interrupt the Bastard for a second but Amelia immediately buts in to make sure he finishes his sentence. "«Liz», that's what I used to call her back then." Answering the Englishwoman's annoyed sigh with a smug grin, the Tomato-Bastard continues: "However, we met somebody else who went by that name and…" Another rapid movement under the table but the grin doesn't disappear. It widens as Alice curses in pain; most likely because he dodged and she slammed her foot against the chair instead. "So, we met this other «Liz» and they got along pretty well. Though now she prefers being called «Lizzy», somehow Alice's nickname got forgotten."

"Feliciana's mama?" Lovina turns her head to face the _Bastardo_. So Alice and him knew Feli's mum since they were little, but… somehow she gets a feeling she forgot something… What was it again? "Ah, right! Didn't you say you're not really on good terms with her, Alice?"

"Don't you dare." The two teenagers flinch at the icy voice the adult uses to warn him not to continue speaking.

The Tomato-Bastard's warm laugher contrasts her glare. Lovina feels him place a warm hand on her shoulder as if he thought she needed him reassuring he is there or some shit. Idiot. "Alice~ Don't we all have these little funny stories we don't want to talk about. And _if I may remind you, dear Miss Kirkland_ … You just so happened to tell my daughter a dozen of them." Finally, him faking something that might pass as a British accent and stiff posture stretching his pinkie when taking a sip from his drink, helps Lovina relax in the weird atmosphere which was NOT her fault.

The teenagers turn to him, waiting for the story to be told whether or not Alice likes it and Lovina does not somehow feel guilty she let her curiosity win.

"Once upon a time…"

"Oh stop it! We're not THAT old!" The blonde interrupts but focuses on finishing her plate and later gets up to prepare a kettle with water as she avoids all eye contact with the other three.

"So. Back in primary school, we met Gil and Francis and you know all about that however… So there was this friend of Gil and everyone called the kid «Liz». Liz was the type of kid who would fight with others every day and Gil and Alice gladly joined in."

"As did you." Alice grumbles and starts putting the plates away. "And if you already need to bring up embarrassing stories, make it short, wanker."

"In other words, there was this friend of a friend and Alice kinda liked the kid. And when the kid received a vase and complained it were a «girly» gift, they handed it to Alice who was on cloud nine and…"

"I was NOT!"

"Vase?! Don't tell me…?!"

"Long story short" The Tomato-Bastard interrupts the two interrupting him and swiftly continues to finish his little story: "Gil somehow found out Liz was actually a guy and freaked out because of that and, trying to calm from the shock, made sure everyone got to know about it. Alice included."

The kettle starts whistling as if timed to stop the story before the Spaniard can start getting into any more details. "Yeah, really funny, really embarrassing. Who of you culinary incompetent fools wants a cup of tea? It's high time we get the kitchen cleaned up and start with your penalty homework."

The three grumble unhappily and complain they'd rather have coffee/hot chocolate.

xxx

"Aaand I'm out. Break time!" Amelia, not considering the fact they were just about to get started with their; or rather Alice was just about to start with explaining the REAL facts, rolls on her stomach and switches the TV on. Within the blink of an eye Lovina, who's done nothing but argue with Amelia and Carriedo for the last thirty two minutes follows the blonde's example.

"Amelia! This is about YOUR homework. The sooner we…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She rolls on her back once more and lazily lifts her head to face her mother. "Sorta difficult if the two of you continue arguing over everything and mixing up events. If I were to just write down whatever you guys said, I'd be kicked out of school as soon as we hand this thing in." Turning back to the TV, Amelia stretches her body to reach under the couch and, after searching around for a while, pulls out a half finished pack of crisps. The teenager sniffs at one of the potato slices before she grumbles unhappily and drops the package back on the ground.

Wrinkling her nose in disgust and wondering, if she'd happen to find any more of these rancid relicts hidden under her furniture, Alice is glad to realize Antonio leaving the living room just to come back with an unopened pack. "I am sorry, but Carriedo here doesn't seem to realize it'd be easiest if we followed a chronical order in telling you." The Spaniard throws the package and Amelia catches it. Then he hands a little bowl of ice cream to Lovina. For once, both girls seem to settle down quietly and Alice can't help but grumble a "Thank you…"

"Holy shit!" Amelia almost drops the bag darting up into a sitting position. "Did you just THANK him?!"

Lovina yawns next to her and slaps the other girl upside her head. "Shut up. Can't hear what they're talking about."

To Alice's surprise, Carriedo taps her shoulder and now holds a package of walker's shortbread cookies he hands her. "You're welcome." He grins, leaving the Englishwoman wonder where he found that. "They're your favourite, aren't they?"

"Err… I guess…" Suddenly feeling flustered, the Englishwoman bends her head and focuses on opening the package more than would be necessary. "How… Never mind." How could he know she liked them? She never brought any to school nor did her family offer them to guests, because Allistor would eat them before any of the siblings would even know their parents bought some. Even now she has the habit not to buy them, knowing her eldest brother's got some sort of sixth sense to turn up for tea every time she bought some.

Unaware of the glance the teenagers exchange, the adult wonders whether and how she should offer some to Carriedo. "Would you… Would you also like some?" She curses her mouth for speaking before she could properly think of what to say and tries to avoid his dark green eyes slightly widening in surprise. "Don't. Eating a whole package would be too much and…"

" _¡Gracias, Querida!"_ With one of his annoying idiot smiles, Carriedo leans forward and takes one of the shortbread fingers. He takes a bite and hums contently. "Not as bad as I thought. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's dinner!"

"You'd better, Wanker!" Cursing at him somehow makes her feel more at ease and Alice can look up again, only to be faced with a challenging grin plastered over his face alarming her he is about to spill more nonsense:

"Oh, and concerning the Spanish British relations, doesn't it make more sense to tell the kids how different events are important because they have an influence on another event? Rather than only follow a boring chronological order?" He dashes a smile at her frown, followed by a smug grin and a wink before he leaves the Englishwoman to disappear towards the kitchen once more.

"What the fuck is his problem?!" She shakes her head and glances over at the two girls seemingly more interested in what the brown-haired Git just said than what's running on TV. She raises a knowing eyebrow. "Let me guess, you want to continue with your paper?!" Both heads snap back towards the screen immediately and Alice returns to piece fully enjoy her shortbread in the short absence of a certain annoying Spaniard.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Spanish**

 _¡Aquí tiene!_ = Kinda like «here you are»

 _Gazpacho_ = Cold tomato soup

 _gambas al ajillo_ = Prawns cooked in oil and garlic *yummy!*

 _¡Gracias!_ = Thank you!

 _Querida_ = Love

 **Italian:**

 _Stasate_ = Shut up! (Ok, honestly speaking I have no clue how you write this. Uncle Google couldn't help me nor any translating site… But I know that word since I was small and it's pretty close to STFU)

 _Bastardo_ = bastard

 _Idiota_ = idiot (surprise, surprise… ;) didn't guess that one, did you?)

 **xxx**

 **Translations:**

 **Yes, I was tired, bored and in the mood to joke around… Hope u don't mind ;)**

 **xxx**

 **Alice**

 **The "culinary incompetent fools" refers to the three refusing to drink tea.**

 **As for the vase thing… That's just a little side-story-/ Easter egg-thingy I came up with and decided to drop in here. You'll get to learn more about it later on ;)**


	32. I will tell her on Friday

He didn't expect them to suddenly act all friendly with each other. He PRAYED they wouldn't be at each other's throats. But he most certainly didn't expect to be met witch such a situation when he pulled up towards the school gate.

Amelia, standing atop the wall next to school's main gate walking back and forth, entertaining at least half of the students with a shouting fight with Lovina. His eyes falling on the stubborn figure keeping a safety distance from the wall and her opponent, the Spaniard suppresses a sigh and glances at his watch.

It's Wednesday seven past five. They will be at Alice's a bit too late but she also needs to go shopping for the ingredients. She will most likely be late as well; probably fifteen minutes or something.

It's seven past five.

Today's Wednesday. The deadline is Friday.

Antonio honks to get the two girl's attention. Amelia immediately jumps down from the wall, making Lovina screech as she lands just a few centimetres away from her. Waving happily, the blonde dashes towards the car, dragging the brunette after her, ignoring her complaints. Before the girls reach the doors and slop down on his back seat, Antonio wonders which of the blonde free-spirit's parents influenced her the most, as it seems kind of difficult to recognize neither Alice's nor Francis' traits in Amelia's behaviour.

"Let's get this party started!" The girl in question cheerfully opens the door and, to Antonio's surprise leans forward to turn the volume of the radio up only to question his choice of music immediately after.

"Shut your trap!" An angry expression on the second girl's face shows Lovina doesn't share the same enthusiasm as Amelia this night. As she takes place on the front seat and grumbles in Italian, Antonio interprets the blonde fought with his daughter merely for fun while Roma took her words seriously. "And take back what you said!"

Amelia, engaged in singing along with the music even though she just complained it was so «last season» doesn't realize Lovina's accusing glare. "What did you fight about?" The adult tries to turn his daughter's attention from the blonde on their backseat. An angry huff is the only answer he can get out of Lovina as she turns to glare out of the window, grumbling under her breath about idiots and bastards. "Roma~" he tries again and stretches his hand out to pat her head but she slaps it away.

"Don't touch me, _Bastardo_!" She turns to glare her anger at him and he immediately knows this is worse than just a fight with another teenage girl. Amelia must've pulled one of Lovina's many triggers and made her snap without realizing it. –And most likely it was a trigger related to Antonio and the question about Lovina's mother.

Lovina's glare turning towards the houses passing by again, the adult decides to swift his focus towards the street as well and he finds himself torn between wishing Friday would never come and wishing it was already over. Certainly, he already tried to mentally prepare for different possible outcomes. However, it doesn't really work and he ends up praying Friday would never come instead. Maybe he should step by the church before going home on Friday and pray some more?

"Hey, Tonio!" Amelia taps his shoulder to turn his attention towards herself and her face is almost split by her wide grin as she asks: "What's the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to my mum?"

For once unsure how to answer the question, Antonio does his best to keep focusing on the road instead of glancing at her expectantly sparkling eyes through the driving mirror. "Rather than embarrassing moments, I prefer to remember every time I won one of our little battles."

"What kinda battles?"

Glad he easily avoided the subject, the Spaniard laughs, hoping to ease the atmosphere in the car. "We were masters of turning everything into a battle. Be it sports competitions, clean up duty or even eating contests." The blonde girl answers his laugh with hers, asking further about how they managed to turn clean up duty into a battle.

"Who collects more dirt wins or what?" She crackles to which he only nods.

"Sometimes. But most of the time we'd end up making everything worse as we started enacting battle scenes using brooms as spears and swords and buckets as either helmets or shields." He feels his heart warm with melancholy. "It only rarely ended with just the two of us fighting. People would join in and start fighting too." Then his mood slightly darkens. "-Especially your Dad and Gil. Most of the time it wasn't even me who started fighting with her. It was Francis. Gil and I just somehow always ended being dragged in; as well as other students that would side with Alice. It always ended up in a worse mess than before cleaning, in detention or having to help the janitor." Feeling set back to the silly times of his childhood again, Antonio now laughs whole heartedly. "Though we never cared about them and made it a game to escape from the teachers and meat up for ice cream afterwards. Whoever arrived last had to pay."

"Let me guess. Gilbert was an expert at spectacular escapes and got caught?" Even though through the whole drive, Amelia and Antonio continue talking idly; from time to time, the adult would glance at the third person sitting in the car quietly glaring outside. He continues laughing along with the blonde but the brunette is constantly aware it is partly his fault his daughter is feeling down and won't let him approach her.

If it's because of him, she openly and immediately shows her anger, her disappointment or her distrust. If there's other people around however, the girl has the troublesome tendency to act strong even if she wishes she could just run away and hide under a cuddling blanket. Worse even if she's hurt. Speaking about her feelings has never been Lovina's forte. Most of the time he knows even if she doesn't tell him. It took him years to understand her, but by now he knows her well enough to tell how she actually feels and it bothers him whenever he isn't able to do something against it.

Worse even if she doesn't WANT him to do something but instead decides to turn away and suffer by herself.

The car comes to a stop in front of the same white-painted fence as the day before and Amelia enthusiastically jumps outside. Lovina however doesn't move a finger. Her eyes narrow. "You promised you'll tell me."

" _Sí_ , I did." He nods even though she faces the other way.

Now her head snaps around. "You pinky-swore!" Remembering the childish swear makes his lips curl upwards even if he doesn't want them to. He couldn't help it, because even though she completely refuses him to get close to her, Roma is just the cutest thing ever.

Of course she scowls at his reaction and his face snaps back to serious immediately: " _Sí_ , I pinky-swore. Friday."

Giving him another doubtful look, Lovina finally turns to open the door and follow an impatiently waving Amelia. "I will fucking kill you, if you don't!" She presses her point and the Spaniard waits for her to exit the car until he allows his expression to slowly drop to an unhappy smile.

"You will do so either way…" He grumbles the words and considers just driving away, trying to forget what he doesn't want to think about. Antonio tries to motivate himself to remember he is not the type to run away but to face it head on! Especially things he can't change.

A familiar car turning around the corner of the street arriving exactly fifteen minutes past five challenges Antonio to rethink. Maybe, just maybe… He might not be able to change things, but others can!

After all, Lovi has people she trusts. They will support her.

And him? Who should he trust?

Even though he keeps telling himself otherwise, Antonio knows he just wants to hide away from his responsibilities for once in his life. Just a little moment to recharge before facing his daughter and his secrets.

xxx

The Englishwoman places her bags down, glad she could already distract the two girls from entering the kitchen, bribing them with their favourite snacks and a couple of DVD's she «borrowed» from Martina. Of course only under the compromise her three «guests» should select ONE and TOGETHER to keep them busy while she is cooking.

However, even though she made sure to include something for Carriedo, the man doesn't seem to understand her intention with organizing some dried-tomato-flavoured Breadsticks to shut him up and instead swiftly follows after her.

Not only doesn't he keep out of her field of vision, he also won't keep quiet: "Do you mind?" Alice glares in his direction to see him pointing towards the table.

"Yes, I do mind." She turns to rummage through her bags again, taking everything out and starts to organize the ingredients next to the stove.

"Then I am sorry." To her surprise, she realizes the man pass by her, heading towards the table even though she refused his request. Her head snaps to the side to tell him off but seeing his tired face she decides to allow him to sit down for a while. With a long sigh, the intruding Git drops on a chair and rests his head on his hands. Ignoring her asking glare, the brunette places the little bag of snacks down next to him and glances at it, smiling. " _Gracias por el_ _Palitos_ , Alice." He tilts his head towards the bag but leaves it unopened.

With the Spaniard relaxing on her table in silence, Alice frowns but returns to organize her stuff. Seeing him sitting there tired like that makes her realize how tired she is herself. Her neck feels stiff as she remembers the burnt scones and how long it took her to clean out the whole oven and make sure the burnt smell disappears.

Either it showed on her face or he just feels the urge to bother her again because he suddenly asks if he could help her with something. Raising an eyebrow, Alice places a bag of carrots down. "Do as you were told, eat your snacks, shut up and get out of my kitchen."

A little snort escapes him. "In that order?"

"Yes, in that…" the Englishwoman stops mid-sentence to make sure she won't play into his hands. "All at once. Or rather: shut up AND get out of my kitchen, THEN eat your snacks. Even better: leave my house and get out of my hair for good." Sorting through the ingredients for her pie, Alice doesn't spare him another glance. She doubts he would follow her last request.

"And miss out on your pie? But I've been looking forward to eating your food for the whole day!"

"Quit joking, wanker." She doesn't understand why, but she knows what everybody thinks about British food. Hearing the Spanish Git looking forward to this rumored « _cuisine de l'horreur_ » as a certain frog used to call it, his comment is bound to end in a joke about English food.

"If it were so…" His tired expression slowly changes into a soft smile as he keeps watching her and the Englishwoman turns to focus on preparing once more, evading his eyes. "…I wouldn't be here, would I?"

She doesn't comment but just accepts his statement to be probably partly true or just simple flattery and the two fall into comfortable silence. Neither seems to want to talk and Alice doesn't feel like she would be the right person to ask him what is wrong with him today, instead focuses on preparing dinner.

Though she actively ignores him, she knows his eyes rest on her as she starts preparing the dough.

xxx

Not really sure whether she should actually have looked forward to tonight or not, Amelia argues it was solely because she missed the huge flat screen in the old hag's living room and therefore couldn't wait to get back here. What's more, her mother also organized her favorite barbecue-flavored chips AND a stack of cool DVD's.

Yes, DVD's. Not Netflix… Because; even though her mother owns a flat screen and all, the TV of course can't access the internet. –Compromise they had to come up with some years ago when the old lady FINALLY agreed on replacing this old thing in the living room. Her mother actually dared to call the thing a Television, but Amelia was certain if she would've auctioned the ancient relict of a screen to some weird collectors, she would've earned quite a lot of money in exchange!

Luckily, she won the argument over getting a new TV and this brings her back to the current situation: DVDs instead of Netflix; but luckily the old lady brought a reasonable choice of movies with her! When Amelia searched through the covers, the blonde teenager recognized some old movies as well as some really new ones. She immediately found her favourites and turned to Grumpy to help her with choosing the first one they should watch but the brunette argued she didn't want to watch either of them.

Still somewhat shocked by the fact the other teenager wouldn't realize just how AMAZING special effects are and instead complain they were «way over the top» or something like that, they still managed to decide on a movie they both wanted to watch.

Long story short, they have everything they need to get started: Flat screen, comfy couch, chips. All that's left is for Lovi to put the disc in the player.

Excitedly, Amelia makes herself comfortable, sitting with her feet on the couch and her chin resting on her knees, she opens the package in her hands and stares at the black screen and waits. Her hand finds its way and she starts stuffing some of the chips in her mouth, happily chewing on them.

Aside from that, nothing happens.

"Don't you wanna put the movie in?" The blonde suggests and waits again, but Grumpy doesn't move an inch from her place in the living room's door frame glaring at the blonde girl rather than the TV.

"Move" Amelia curiously watches the brunette take a few steps and lets herself fall down on the armchair decorated with a carefully crafted embroidery. Her fingers clenching around the DVD, she turns to look out of the window, leaving a puzzled Amelia sitting and waiting before she shrugs her shoulders and gets back up on her feet to grab the disc. Somehow the other girl reminds her of pouting Mattie. He would try to ignore her when waiting for an apology but never really manages to keep the pout up.

With a dashing smile, the blonde askes for the DVD and stretches her hand out, waiting again. Grumpy doesn't react. Agaaain! All this waiting makes her feel the urge to jump around and pull off a show to get the smile back on the girl's face. "Bastard. You're annoying." Amelia tilts her head at the unexpected grumble. Did she miss something? Or did she misunderstand the other girl's accented English?

"What're you angry about?" Her brown locks whirl through the air as Grumpy's head snaps back towards her. Taking a step backwards at the sudden movement, the blonde does her best to remember why the girl could be angry with her. "You, er…" Desperately searching for any reasons why her co-agent would be angry with her, Amelia recalls the last conversation they had. –Which was really fun 'cause Grumpy overreacted and… Oh. "Oh. So you really don't like the idea?" A huffing sound and a scowl follow as something like an answer. "But, you don't know your mum, right? So isn't it kinda cool? She could be anyone! Just think, she could anyone you imagine!" The thought of being able to choose your Mum starts a whole flood of ideas and she starts giving awesome examples. "Wouldn't that be SO cool?" Amelia finishes her list, knowing there would be many other cool women she didn't think off right now. Judging by the other teenager's expression, she realizes she got so lost in listing cool names she didn't realize Grumpy didn't nod or agree or say ANYTHING! Actually, she doesn't look impressed at all.

Finally, Grumpy breaks the silence and complains: "I know only half of these people. Stop shouting weird Hollywood star's names out at random."

"They're not all from Hollywood, you know…"Amelia trails off, feeling kind of bothered by the fact Lovina faces her with the same unimpressed. Quickly, she tries to think of people the other girl would probably like to call mum. Maybe it was her choice of people which Lovi didn't like? "You're European… Then how about… Erm, dunno, any famous British actress? Or politician?"

"And why should I know any?" Desperately searching her brain for any other names, Amelia almost misses Grumpy's complaint.

"Isn't England in Europe duh?"

"Yeah, but my father's from Spain…" After thinking for a while, Amelia asks the other girl where this country is located again but regrets asking immediately as she can't really follow Lovina's geographical explanation as it's one of those not-english-speaking countries.

Still busy with thinking about cool mums, Amelia can't ignore the scowl on her new friend's face and realizes her distraction didn't work. Lovi's face still looks so troubled and yet so void of emotions, Amelia feels how the other girl's emotions start to drag her down as well.

Being the Heroine she is, she couldn't simply turn to watch the movie, leaving the other girl feeling like that and immediately starts what she's best at: making faces.

xxx

More than half an hour passed with her mixing and folding the pastry and Carriedo quietly sitting at the table, watching her every move. The Englishwoman; now about to start preparing the beef and veggies, wonders if she should ask something.

It is painfully obvious he is feeling down but it's a weird thought he would come to her to talk about it. This hardly ever happened since they entered school. And when it did, he was facing real trouble. Though up till now it is a mystery to her why he would tell someone like his childhood rival.

As much as she tried to ignore the urge to inquire what had happened, the memory of how he listened to her the other weekend keeps nagging until she finally gives in: "Something happened with Lovina again?" It takes some time for Carriedo to realize she talked to him. He shifts and sighs unhappily, answering her question and more. "Of course she would want to know." Alice concludes.

" _¿_ _Por qué?_ " It sounds more like a desperate plea than a question. "I just want to spoil my baby so she can continue living in her happy little world."

"If it means hiding the truth, I doubt she will be «happy» in this little world you craft around her." She raises an eyebrow at the Spaniard sighing in frustration and finally grabbing the snacks waiting next to him to open them. They both know him trying to talk back to her wouldn't change the situation he is in and therefore Carriedo instead munches some breadsticks. "We all know you flirted with many girls but never had a serious relationship. It might not be the nicest story, but if it was as stereotypical as a random girl turning up at your doorstep and leaving Lovina with you, don't you think the girl is now old enough to learn the truth, no matter how painful it might be?"

The chewing stops and for a moment Carriedo looks like he wants to say something. He shifts and opens his mouth, eyes sparking with something she is not familiar with before he turns his head and closes his mouth again. The single-parent takes the time to finish his _Pali-how did he call the snacks again?_ before taking another attempt to speak:

"I will tell her on Friday."

Unsure if she heard what she thinks he said, the Englishwoman halts in her movement and a few seconds tick by as she waits for him to say something else and make her realize she just misheard him. Though she somewhat hopes he didn't, she can still feel the tension in the air as he waits for her reaction.

She doesn't react. After all, what is she supposed to say? What is she supposed to do but slowly continue chopping carrots? Luckily, Carriedo stops staring at her during this awkward moment and instead fishes for another Breadstick. The chopping and chewing are the only noises for some more awkward seconds before he starts speaking again, releasing her from the painful expectation to say something to lift his spirits. Not that she wanted to, but even though she considered the Spaniard her rival since their early childhood, leaving him hanging like that just doesn't feel right.

Carriedo sighs and allows her to see another bit of his weak side he usually hides behind a cheerful smile or a smug grin. "Raising a kid by yourself can be pretty hard, can't it?" Alice feels confident enough to nod as an answer, knowing it is the right thing to do. The divorced woman DOES know that all too well. Then, she waits for him to continue, which he does after he slowly put the bag of snacks down: "There are times she just doesn't want to talk to me. These moments I wonder if fate really chose the right person to take care of her, you know?" Once more, Alice stops her work to blankly stare at him. Did he really just say that? "What's the matter?" Alice blinks. She must have stared at him longer than she realized as she finds his green eyes searching hers.

"No…" She splutters away, snapping out of her thoughts and trying to hide the fact she just forgot he was there for a second. "You always act so confident I kinda thought someone like you doesn't know these kinds of struggles."

A small chuckle escapes his throat. " _Lo siento,_ I didn't mean to laugh." The Spaniard explains before she can even realize he did but his expression immediately returns to how it was before. "Confident? I have asked myself that question hundreds of times since I started raising Lovina." He sighs and somehow she finds her own reflection in his eyes. It sort of creeps her out to see him this vulnerable, this broken.

But she knows these thoughts all too well. These last years tought her parenting is not always about overseeing the small misunderstandings and fights. Sometimes it's also about pulling through times like now. Through differences. Challenges. "I know I'm the last person to talk when it comes to family issues, but doesn't that show you care? And wouldn't you always do it again? I mean, be there for her?"

Finally, his expression somewhat relaxes and Alice releases a breath she didn't know she was holding. Slowly, his lips turn back into a small, sad smile and the blonde woman can't stand this unfamiliar atmosphere; and especially this unfamiliar Carriedo any longer. She shakes her head, trying to ignore his irritating behaviour and demands:

"Why would you tell me all that? That's not like you at all." She is just about to continue and remind him to straighten his back and be his annoying happy-go-lucky self again but…:

"Because I trust you."

Once more, the Englishwoman freezes and yet once more tonight she sees herself confronted with something she doesn't want to have to think about because it doesn't make sense. Still confused by the situation, all she can manage is grumble an "Idiot" and turn back to preparing her ale-pie before the true meaning if his words sink through to her.

xxx

Frustrating.

That's the perfect word to describe the last minutes.

Grumpy's been acting all grumpy. No matter how hard Amelia would try to think of a new nickname for the brunette, if she keeps up this act of «Lemme alone», the blonde has a hard time coming up with anything but «Grumpy».

What's more, she's brought Amelia to a new, unknown level of frustration. The blonde would eventually get EVERYBODY to smile. There were times she could make her angry baby brother laugh again and even Kiku would sometimes smile (though she doesn't always get WHY he smiles… But it's cute, so she doesn't mind). In other words, she's a PRO at getting people that feel down, angry, bored, pissed and even desperate to smile. If her magic-fanatic mother had ANY influence on her at all, it's this magic of making people smile. It's her DUTY as heroine!

Apparently, she just met her greatest challenge.

"Don't you ever laugh?" Lovina eyes her with an asking look but doesn't answer Amelia's desperate question. The blonde sighs in resignation and lets herself drop on the tea-table standing next to the armchair. Shoulders hanging, she decides not to lament over her failed efforts to get a reaction from the other teenager.

"Why should I? To me it looks more like a one-woman show. A silly one." Lovina's words cut through to Amelia's heart. The blonde's jaw drops.

What? Did Grumpy really…

«This is NOT about any of these girls. So leave them alone. I'm tired of getting dragged around because you're still pissed at mum and don't want to face her. Just go and talk to her!» Matthew's words call out to her at the weirdest moment and completely out of context but they make her think. «This is not about you and _maman_.»

How did they end up here again?

Didn't she just have a fight with her mum? Then got pissed to hell and left the house for good, wondering what went wrong between her and her mother.

She got angry for her mother being with Carriedo. Fought with her. So why did she end up trying to convince Lovina to realize there IS something going on between them?

Amelia searches Lovina's eyes once more. The other teenager stares at her with a refusing expression.

«By the way, I don't really get whether you like or dislike the idea there might be something going on between our parents. Which one is it?»

Yeah, which one?

Does it matter? –Of course it does!

But, does it matter right now?

The girl continues staring into her friend's eyes and spots something like… sadness in them.

No. It doesn't matter right now. A confident smirk returns on her face as she wishes she could pat Mattie on the shoulder for giving her just the idea she needs.

This isn't ABOUT her. Then again, it IS!

"You know, sometimes I also feel like I don't know my mum...", Amelia starts speaking without realising what she is telling the other girl at first, but the focused stare she suddenly spots in Grumpy's green eyes is all the motivation she needs to continue and try to tell somebody about the things she never put it to words before: "I mean, of course I actually know who my mum is an all, but there are times I wonder if I really know her. For example, she was away a lot when I was little and so on." Not sure anymore why she is telling the other girl, Amelia can't help but stare at Lovi's green eyes. Her mother's eyes are green as well, but they've got a different feel to them. Her mother's green eyes… Whenever she was away, Amelia would… The teenager realises she's trailing off and hopes she didn't just say that out loud. While she talks, Lovina's eyes stay fixed at Amelia. Without blinking or showing any kind of reaction. But the blonde knows she is listening."And, well, the both of us kinda changed and nowadays, it can really be difficult to find common ground." The blonde tries to close her story and hopes it didn't sound as weird and confusing as she thinks.

Amelia finishes rambling about their weird relationship; tries to stop herself mid-sentence and stares at the other girl again, unsure what to do or say now.

Lovina shakes her head, grumbles something along the lines of «lost case» and gets up to place the DVD in the player. Glad she could somewhat lift the other girl's spirits, Amelia takes the opportunity to return to her favorite spot on the couch and relaxes sprawled over all the cushions fishing for her chips. Still keeping an eye on Lovi's figure sitting on the armchair without moving, her attention is slowly drawn away by the movie but her mind keeps working, reminding her of memories she'd rather not think about right now.

Because there are many things she knows she should think about.

Later.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian**

 _Bastardo_ = bastard

 **Spanish**

 _Sí = Yes_

 _Gracias por_ e _l…_ =Thank you for the…

 _Palitos_ = Breadsticks (a snack/ appetizer)

 _¿Por qué?_ = why?

 _Lo siento_ = I'm sorry

 **French**

 _Cuisine de l'horreur_ = kitchen of horrors (does that make sense in English?)

 _Maman_ = Mum

 **xxx**

 **Logic…**

 **I dunno, but the more I write and check the previous chapters for context, the more I realize quite a lot of things don't really make sense… (like what Amelia is thinking about after «how did we get here?»)**

 **I'm sorry and I'll try my best this doesn't happen anymore!**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **YES! I'm still alive.**

 **Sorry D,:**

 **I don't have any other excuse but that my duties keep me busy beyond what I can manage and I keep ignoring them to protect myself… And even though I do that I'm still dead tired :(**

 **Enough of my rambling!**

 **Take care of yourselves; and "THANKS A LOT!" to everybody who keeps checking for updates! I love you guys even though it makes me feel really bad because I don't update frequently *hides**

 **Have a lovely week!**


	33. Do you trust me?

_«Because I trust you»_ Alice suppresses the urge to shake her head in disbelief and tries to focus on covering the pie instead. Her hands follow the recipe's instructions but her head is facing a completely different challenge: Throughout the whole process of preparing the ale pie, Alice couldn't really enjoy it but kept fighting against a storm of confusing thoughts she'd rather ignore.

Because she didn't know how to react, she got used to ignoring these unfamiliar, rare moments that didn't fit the pattern. His pattern. His typical behaviour. His irritating personality of an easygoing airhead, an irritating rival.

Unfortunately, she couldn't really forget these moments. From time to time, the situations and stories would emerge from the back of her mind and come to disturb her peace of mind, reminding her of the fact he did INDEED share his pain with her. Did something like confide and trust her.

The fights with his brother and the hardships that came along with it or his struggles when Francis and him faced differences. He told her everything. Would tell her about his dream to travel the world. See the Philippines. Set sail to an unknown destination. Everything that deeply troubled or inspired him; whether she wanted to hear it or not.

When did it stop? When was the last time he came to her?

When the first?

Almost done preparing, Alice's thoughts and senses return to reality for the process of seasoning the meat and vegetables. Focusing on the task at hand, the blonde woman tries to keep her thoughts to herself but her eyes wander towards the brunette still watching her quietly. Green eyes expressionless. Then his focus shifts as he catches her staring. Alice turns away immediately.

Stupid, airheaded, naïve idiot. His cheerful smile, which seems so unfamiliar with fear or uncertainties pisses her off the moment she sees it. However, this other side of his troubles her even more.

She fixes his silhouette at her table, thinking. "Carriedo, why do you trust me?" The chaos in her mind finally takes the form of words echoing through the silence as she speaks and waits for him to answer.

"Why not?" is his plain reaction. Compared to his expression before; or to the chaos in her thoughts, he looks weirdly calm. Unfazed by her question.

 _«Because I trust you.»_ Why would he? Why would he come to HER of all people, telling her about his deepest troubles, his greatest fears?

After all, people can and will easily betray other's trust. Which is exactly why Carriedo's words don't make any sense. Alice knows a lot about him. She knows too much. If she wanted to, she could crush him. Reduce him to shreds only with the knowledge she got «because he trusts her».

Is he not aware of the price of trust? All these things you tell people. The situations and moments of understanding one another… One day one will come to realize the deeper they trust someone and the more they invest in their relationship to others… In short, the closer you let them get to you… The more it hurts when they turn away.

The blonde woman tries to ignore her irritation and instead rephrases her question: "Even though all we ever did was fight, why would you trust someone like me? Why would you tell me things knowing I could always use them against you?"

Finally, she sees a reaction. A small chuckle escapes him. Then he shifts and munches another breadsticks before finally answering:

"Do you really think I'm so easy to trick?" The familiar confident smile appears on his face. The fucking confident smile. Reminding her yet again how different they are. Reminds her why she hates him.

The things which disturb her deeply; that man just brushes them aside with one of these cursed smiles. As if they were nothing.

The Englishwoman turns to focus on her pans again. Judging by the fucking annoying smirk, this was only his first argument to support his opinion. And she doesn't really want to pay any attention to the Spaniard's confident attitude. "Probably." Alice states and waits for him to continue with a challenging ring in his voice:

"I choose the people I confide in. And I choose what I tell and to whom." He stops talking and a rustling inquires he takes another breadstick. Alice swears to herself she won't ever get a package of ANYTHING for him again. If life ever threatens her to get him something to eat, it will be in one piece and without wrappings. She won't play in his hands again by giving him an excuse to stop talking and make her wait for his answers. He should just get to the point already. "Or would you immediately tell someone you've just met your darkest secret? To a person you know well enough, you might tell something. A minor thing at first to see, how they react. What they do with their knowledge." Of course he doesn't get to the point. Again. Instead, he challenges her once more. –Bloody annoying challenging ring in his voice of course…: "Alice… Would you trust yourself?"

Confused by his question, the Englishwoman realizes she uses cooking as an excuse to avoid talking just as he uses eating as one. She evades his gaze and stirs in the pot once more before she speaks: "Is that a rhetoric question? But won't you answer my question first?"

"Maybe." Another chuckle. "As for me… It's true, you know so many things about me, yet you never used them against me. It's against your policy, against your pride to use such dirty tricks." Though she doesn't want to admit it, she knows Carriedo is right. "I thought you would eventually use them. I saw you do so with other people. I experienced you using some of the things others told you about me. But whatever I told you confidentially, you kept to yourself. You know all that yet you ask me, why I trust you?" Once more, Alice doesn't know what to answer him. She opens the preheated oven and the warm air surrounds her. "Alice. Do you trust me?"

Faced with another unexpected situation, the blonde places the pie in the oven and slowly closes the door. "Why would I trust you?"

"Think about it." Her eyes stay fixed on the ale pie a bit longer than necessary because he takes longer to answer; most likely because, for once, he needs to choose his words before he speaks. "Besides our unwritten rules about being childhood rivals. Tell me a logical reason; a specific situation why you shouldn't trust me."

Why?! A snort escapes her. What a silly question. It makes her wonder if he even realizes what he is talking about. Without even thinking about how to answer, she raises again and turns to face him. "You disappeared all of a sudden? With no sign of life for five years? And missed the moment your best friend became a dad? Twice?! Only to return with a daughter yourself?"

After their weird conversation, silence falls over the room once again. Carriedo turns to look away and the blonde woman starts to sort through her dirty pots. Time for cleaning up.

xxx

He didn't expect this outcome. Ignoring the nagging pain in his chest, Antonio fixes Alice's silhouette and his eyes follow her every move, from closing the oven to getting back up and starting to sort through the dirty bowls. With quick movements, the blonde housewife opens the tap and starts the washing up.

So different from the young girl he met on the playground.

How many years have passed since they met? And how long since he told her a little secret to see her reaction? After that, how many times was she the only person he could really tell how he felt; ignoring whether she acted as if she cared or not.

How many times did he hope it would always stay this way? That she would eventually trust him as well?

When they were the same age as their kids are right now, he hoped his wish would come true. One year later he knew that it was unlikely. Four years later he realized, it was forever impossible. It wasn't HIM whom she trusted.

"You really loved Francis, didn't you."

The divorced woman almost freezes, but swiftly continues her work as if he didn't challenge her with another unpleasant question. A question which actually challenges him more than her. "I won't answer this question." Even from his place at the kitchen table, Antonio can see Alice's stern expression. Her furrowed eyebrows and her glinting eyes. The perfect façade of hatred and annoyance shielding her. Chasing others away that might come to close and touch the painful subject. Chasing HIM away. She won't tell Antonio even if he already knows.

No matter how much he tells her; she would never tell him. He challenged her, but she brushed him off. She will never trust him.

Once more, Antonio is reminded what their relationship is like. HIS role has always been and will always be the one of her rival. Nothing more. But it's not that bad either. Still better than indifference.

Rivals are someone you never get rid of even though they aren't close to you. Someone whom you know better; and who knows you better than anyone; yet they aren't your friend.

This is HIS role. And no one will ever be able to steal it away. Though he recognizes the pain he feels thinking how they will never be as close as he once hoped, confirming HIS position might still lift his spirits.

" _Aunqe me odies, yu aùn te amo, Querida_ " Because he loves her, even if she hates him.

The Spaniard decides to act as if their conversation just now didn't happen and gets up on his feet to tiptoe towards the sink as quietly as possible. Alice, after washing a large bowl plans to swiftly place it next to the sink and dry it afterwards. "You…!" She whirls around as said bowl is taken from her hands before she can set it down.

Exactly the reaction he was going for. The glint in her eyes affirm him that his mere presence still infuriates her enough to forget bad memories.

"Yes, Alice?" Knowing a confident grin is always the best answer after he irritated her, the Brunette nonchalantly starts drying the bowl, waiting for her reaction. He's playing his game. And the Blonde, as always, plays in his hands. She glares at him and snatches the bowl back.

"WHAT do you think you're doing?!"

"Helping you cleaning up?" All it takes is an innocent puppy look and the Englishwoman is completely pissed off. No more sadness or anger reflecting in her eyes; not even a single THOUGHT about her ex-husband. Only pure irritation.

Antonio smirks. Francis is his best friend. Going after his best friend's ex-wife would be the worst. However, nothing speaks against annoying her to death.

Through narrowed eyes, the Englishwoman glares at the Spaniard but doesn't say anything at first. "Won't you just be nice and quiet and go sit in your corner again?" She growls and takes the towel from his hands to dry the bowl herself before she starts washing the dishes again.

Cute, stubborn Alice. Manages to make him forget his pain in an instant.

"Why should I when I can just go and open your shelves to look for a towel, take it out and start to help you while standing too close to you, ignoring your personal space?" He puts her complains into words before she can.

"Carriedo." Without even looking, she places a second cleaned bowl next to the sink and reaches for a knife instead. "If you insist, I will EASILY forget my resolution to, for the sake of our daughters, NOT turn this place into a bloody battlefield." The blade glints under her finger and Antonio waits for her to place it down after cleaning it.

Honestly speaking, this resolution of hers just took the wind out of his sails. With just one sentence he forgets what he wanted to say or do. Forgets about challenging her. Forgets about trying to keep up the act of rivalry and would rather he could just stay by her side. Work together WITH her. To pull in the same direction.

With slow footsteps, Antonio walks closer and grabs the towel once more. He stops next to her and picks up the knife. "What an honorable resolution." A smile steals itself on his face. "For the sake of our daughters, we should really try our best. After all, wouldn't it be great if at least our kids got along?"

The Englishwoman turns to reach for the next bowl and lowers it in the warm water. Antonio dries the knife and puts it away, then takes the bowl Alice hands him.

His thoughts try to remind himself of his resolve. She's his best friend's ex-wife. He already gave up on her twice. The first time when she rejected him. The second when he learned she and Francis were getting married. After that, he decided he wouldn't even consider getting close to her a third time.

Yet he did. Again.

However, this and that are completely different things. It's not like he expects anything to come from these interactions. Right now, he just wants to enjoy the piece of this moment.

From the towel, his gaze wanders to Alice's reflection in the kitchen window.

xxx

It's one of these moments again. A moment where you wish you could be far, far and even further away. For example at the other end of the world. Or at least in Rome, sightseeing, eating _gelato_ and sipping on an _espresso_ while listening to a musician earning his livings walking back and forth between restaurants playing his instrument.

Unfortunately, Lovina's attempt to daydream fails as soon as she starts it.

Neither does a hole in the ground open and swallow her. Nope. Of course no such fucking coincidence happens. Not even any of the creepy aliens from that movie they just watched comes to take her away either.

She heard it. CLEARLY heard it. And; curse the Tomato-Bastard for nagging her to learn his fucking Spanish; she UNDERSTOOD it too.

Groaning, Lovina drops back on the armchair after returning from the bathroom.

"Hey, Amelia…" The Lovina turns away as soon as the blonde shifts and tries to make eye contact again. The She-Bastard tilts her head and asking blue eyes blink up at the brunette, which she – of course- ignores. "Nevermind…" Right. She's just unfamiliar with people suddenly telling her their life story and such shit.

No need to do the same and tell her, right?

"Something's bothering you again? Spit it out." Amelia shifts once more and finally settles her arms on the armrest close to Lovina. Her head sinks on her arms but she keeps fixing the Southern European. "Hey, about your question… What do you think about it?"

Lovina frowns and requires which question the other is referring to.

"You know…" she trails off but apparently it bothers her enough to continue speaking: "You asked me whether I am ok with the old Lady and Tonio being together? What do you think about it?"

Yet again, Lovina prays for a hole to open up and swallow her. Or a giant tomato plant suddenly growing in the middle of the living room, growing till it reaches the stars and she will stand on a leaf and look down on the house as small as the shit of an ant.

"I don't even wanna think about it." She finally answers. "I mean, Alice's the most kick-ass woman I've ever met. Thinking of her with the Tomato-Bastard…"

"Right?!" If she thought Amelia would just sit and listen, Lovina was far from the truth. But she isn't really angry when the other girl buts in. Saves her from having to talk more. "Then again. IF Tonio were to ever get a girlfriend. Would you rather see him with someone like my mum or someone else?"

" _Idiota_." Lovina internally facepalms and just wishes the tomato plant would take Amelia away instead. AND the possibility of a relationship. 'Cause the problem is not whether or not it could work out if they became a couple. "I don't want neither of them to start a relationship with anyone." The brunette grumbles and curses amor and venus and whoever else has any say in the department of romance for EXISTING and messing with her life.

"Actually, I think I wouldn't mind as much as you do…" The She-Bastard starts talking by herself about the pros and cons why her mother should or shouldn't start a relationship. –With the main focus she would be so busy most of the time, she would forget to nag Amelia to do this or that or take care of something else and her homework and so on.

For Lovina however, this is the very reason why she doesn't like the idea.

Who can promise her the Tomato-Bastard would still have enough time to look out for her once he gets a girlfriend.

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Spanish**

 _Aunqe me odies, yu aùn te amo, Querida_ = Even if you hate me, I love you. **(*internal squealing)**

 **Italian**

 _gelato_ = ice cream

 _Idiota_ = Idiot

 **xxx**

 **English food**

 **Yeah, another thing where I don't really adapt the general opinion. Just 'cause I don't dislike British food. Think I wrote that before, but home cooked British food is nice. Though I wouldn't go to a restaurant that serves English food unless I'm in England. So let's just assume Alice can cook. IF she puts in a LOT of effort. –And who says she didn't mess up something when preparing the ale pie? ;)**

 **xxx**

 **Just me ^^**

 **Thanks for the Favs and Follows. I'm sure it makes it easier for you guys to know when I update.**

 **For everyone who doesn't have an account: Though I don't update regularly (due to health and stress reasons), most of the time I update on Sunday evenings. (GMT)**

 **Have a lovely week!**

 **-Himawari**


	34. Skip today's meeting

**A/N**

 **Many French, Italian and Spanish words mixed in this chapter. Check the translations at the end. Thx. :)**

 **I also re-wrote the passage which starts with the phone call in English only. You can find it at the end of the translations.**

 **xxx**

"So…" Alice's finger fly over her keyboard, her eyes stay glued to the blinding screen, actively doing her best to ignore her subordinate's stare. She knows Luca's eyes keep staring through her as if trying to read her thoughts even without her turning around and actually meeting the purplish eyes. "How are things going with Carriedo?"

The clicking stops for a second of irritation. Then the Englishwoman continues typing. "Shouldn't you ask how things are going with Amelia?"

"Well, that to." The Norwegian leans against her table and waits for Alice to speak. Or rather, to rant. But nothing happens. Calmly typing her document, the Englishwoman doesn't intend to talk at all. She still needs to think about the events the other evening before talking about it. It's not like anything out of the ordinary happened; except for Carriedo's attempts to trying to do whatever he was trying to do.

Instead of reporting about the last evenings, the blonde nods towards the bag sitting next to her desk. "Thanks for the DVD's." To Luca's offer she could keep them for another evening, she refuses politely. "The three will have to take care of their homework by themselves. –Don't tell me you forgot the meeting tonight?" Luca shakes her head in response.

"I just thought maybe you would skip tonight's meeting. I could cover for you, you know?" Once more, Alice stops typing. Skip? Why would Luca tell her to skip the meeting? "Why not put your family before your work for once?" The other blonde answers without being asked and gets back up to head for the door.

Alice blank-stares at her screen. Skip today's meeting?

xxx

It's Amelia's favouriiiiteee time of day. –Lunchtime!

With fast steps, the teenager dashes towards the big round table she and her friends claimed as their secret base and finds… "Oh, hi there, Grumpy!" She waves and slaps the brown haired girl's back. "Long time no see!"

"Veee~ Hi Amelia." The blonde realizes she mistook her as big amber eyes blink up at her. The girl tilts her head. "Who's «Grumpy»?" Ah, so it was Feli? Amelia squints her eyes to try and find mayor differences to distinguish the two girls. (Besides the character… and maybe the eye color.) And wonders how they could even look that similar but not be related by blood.

Waaait…

"Oi." Amelia, standing with her mouth wide agape and about to blurt out the DISCOVERY OF THE CENTURY, is distracted by a slap upside her head. "Who're you calling Grumpy, She-Bastard? Did you really think I would sit at the same table as the likes of you?!"

This time, she is certain this is Grumpy.

Grumpy and Happy…

Right. RIGHT. Thinking about it once more, Amelia is actually glad Grumpy distracted her from sharing her thoughts with the world. –After all this is a super-secret mission. And if she spills the crucial information too early…

Eyebrows frowned, the blonde watches the two South-European girls bicker:

"Ah, Lovi, I kept a seat for you~" Happy smiles happily, Grumpy… Blushes? But immediately starts complaining and swearing in… some weird language. Amelia is sure she heard it somewhere before. Maybe it's… Erm… Well, it's not English, that's for sure.

"Who said I wanted to sit here?! This is the She-Bastard's table!" Grumpy screeches and jumps back up again, this time trying to pull Feli to follow her.

"But Lovi~" The latter whines. "You two need to make up! I don't want you to get any more penalty-homework, veee~" Then, even though she kept complaining about not wanting to sit, Grumpy still slouches down on the seat next to Happy when the other girl removes her bag and pulls her down.

Throughout the whole situation, Amelia's not sure what differences she could call out. Be it in height, body shape, language… They're too similar. Only their hair is slightly different in color. As are their eyes. AND of course their temper are worlds apart. In other words, the two remind her just a bit too much of herself and Mattie. –Ignoring the fact they are of different gender, of course. But if Mattie were a girl… Or, even better, if SHE were a boy (yeah, that would totally be an awesome dude. She might actually fall for him at first sight. No, she would certainly fall for him.)… Just too similar to not be blood related.

So. "So… And you are really, really, reeeaaallyyy surely N-O-T sisters?" Amelia, content with her observation bows down and swings an arm around either girl's shoulders. Then waits for a reaction.

"We're not." To the blonde's disappointment, Lovina's answer is unexpectedly plain and matter-of-fact. Then the brunette seems to realize the arm around her shoulders and jumps back up once more. –So fun~

"Veee~ Amelia, I finally got her to sit back down…" Feli pouts cutely. Then gets distracted by something else: "Oh, veee! _Ciao_ Kiku!"

"If you may." A fourth voice mixes in. Then Kiku greets everyone in his cute polite style; with bowing and all that. "I happen to know _Ferishiana-san's_ mother, and I must say she seems to be the protective type."

"Yeah." Lovina agrees "Feli's Mum would make sure everyone trying to separate her from her baby regrets it for their whole life." The brunette supports her story with an equally horrifying grimace, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes as if it were a warning. "She would destroy them but let them barely stay alive so they have to atone to their sin for the rest of their days and live only to be a warning to everybody else. –No chance I'm Feli's long lost sister or any such shit."

Not… Not really scared at all, Amelia takes a step backwards and laughs. Yeah. Laughing is always good. Because… Then, the blonde realizes her theory just got shot down. Disappointed there are such strong arguments everybody uses to oppose her observation, Amelia retreats to her seat. However, she doesn't intend to give up just yet. "Then, when were you born?" The girl tries to interrogate for more clues.

"Veee~ February 2."

xxx

Thursday 12.00. In other words: lunchbreak. The perfect situation to update about the progress of his sister's current mood.

Matthew enters the canteen and screens the room. There's Ivan, the Italian teacher, the blonde sibling pair, Lovi… What?!

Surprised to find Lovin… Err… Lovi… And err… The two South Europeans sitting at the table with his sister, Matthew isn't too sure how to react at all. Again. Amelia is happily chatting away while Lovi… doesn't seem so pleased, looking towards the entrance as if she was waiting for the perfect moment to run away. The girl realizes her escape route would be free now and she shifts, but, to the boy's surprise, she doesn't run away.

As he approaches, he realizes why: Felica… Feli holds her hand and keeps her from doing so.

" _Salut les amies_." The blonde greets and even his sister jumps at his «sudden appearance». "But I didn't sneak up on you guys…" He mumbles in defence which goes overheard.

"Hello, err…" With expectant eyes, Amelia looks at… He thinks that one's Lovi… who's obviously trying to remember his name.

"M-A-…" The blonde girl cheers and her eyes widen with more excitement, hoping the brunette would be one of her few friends to remember his name. "…-T"

"Ah, _Matheo_."

All the excitement dies with this one word and Amelia slumps down to hit her head on the table. Lovi on the other hand seems rather pleased with herself. Feli «veee»'s. Kiku greets him with a nod, escaping the common unpleasant situation of trying to remember the blonde boy's name. "Mattie! It's Mattie!" Amelia sniffles towards the table and her brother pats the blonde waves. He places his bag next to hers and sits down as well. "It's not that bad, Sis." She could at least remember part of it. That's already a lot better than…

"Ah, _scusa_. But the only other names I could think of were girl's names."

His sister starts shaking once more; not because of fake-crying this time. Her chuckling quickly turns to loud laugher. Kiku coughs and turns to look the other side and Feli «veee»'s yet again, looking at the others as if trying to get the joke. "Yeah, funny. Great. So, how's your research going?" Matthew tries a desperate attempt to change subjects which doesn't work as quickly as he hoped it would.

"You seriously asking that? I don't even remember what kinda shit we need to write about." Lovi snatches Feli's lunch-bag and unpacks two plastic boxes stuffed with pasta. With a content smile, she talks her friend into taking both bowls with her to the microwave. "You insisted we sit here, so I will not lift a finger until this damned lunchbreak is over." As soon as the auburn haired turns to leave, the brunette glares at the blonde girl still chuckling and repeating the latest joke to Kiku.

"Girl's names!" She giggles to her Japanese friend who's clearly uncomfortable hearing her repeat the comment in front of her brother over and over again. With a «gentle» brotherly push, Matthew tries to turn his sister's attention back towards him. "Owie!" The girl complains half serious but this time listens to his question. "Oh thaaat." A mischevious grin appears on her face and she winks at Lovi. "Just… discussing our latest strategy to hook our parents up."

Instead of answering the wink, the other girl looks confused " _Scusa_?! What do you…"

"Hooking… up?" Mathew asks for clarification. It's true that his sisters had the worst mood swings ever these days, but THIS is beyond…

"Yeah!" Amelia almost sparkles. "'Cause we decided to give these two oldies a li'll push in the right direction. Help them get together and stuff." Matthew feels his jaw drop as he tries to make sense of his sister's words. The latter joyously continues: "Playing cupid! –I've always wanted to do that." She adds with a smile wide and cheeky, similar to a child planning to sneak into their parent's room in search for Christmas gifts.

" _Sei matto_?!" The brunette jumps up, screaming. "Nobody isn't going to hook anybody up!"

"Eeeeh?!" Amelia pouts. "But they would make such a cute couple!"

Blinking in confusion, Matthew wonders what on earth could have happened to make his sister change her mind. And HOW she could ever even think there is a possibility of a relationship between these two childhood rivals. "Sis… Are you sure…?"

Smirking, the girl hums: "Well, if you don't believe me, come and see for yourself." And starts eating, ignoring everybody's wondering questions or complaints. "–'Cause if they become all lovey-dovey, they'll be too busy to get on our nerves, you know? It's a win-win!"

Lovi's are the loudest: "Oh, you will NOT hook anyone up, She-Bastard" With these words, the brunette storms out of the cafeteria, passing a confused looking Feli balancing two boxes with hot pasta.

"Veee~ Lovi? _Che c'è_?"

xxx

Win-win situation?! What fucking win-win situation! Burning with anger, Lovina's fingers fly over the keyboard as she speed walks through the hallway without caring where her feet lead her. She presses the phone against her ear and impatiently waits for the monotone tooting sound to stop and…

" _Diga_? Roma?" Instead of waiting for him to say anything more than his annoying Spanish greeting, Lovina immediately showers her guardian with curses and swears mixed with a frustrated attempt to complain about a certain fucking annoying student from her year.

The Tomato-Bastard in a relationship?! The two of them did well without any random woman in their lives so far! Ignoring the fact the Spaniard is a natural flirt, he never seemed to look for a relationship. –And Lovina doesn't want him to. " _Lei ha perso il buon senso!_ That girl lost all common sense!"

" _¡N_ _iña, no digas eso!_ Don't say something like that!" Even when scolding her, his voice still contains a hint of tenderness which riles her up even more. When he was talking to Alice, he sounded different. Lovina angrily shakes her head. She doesn't want to think about such things. She will NOT think about the bullshit the She-Bastard keeps talking about! Certainly! Grumbling, the teenager declares she will say whatever she wants to say and continues cursing the other crazy girl that started saying these weird things which bother her now. "Lovi~ Didn't you two girls get along just fine the other day?"

Get along?! Fucking HOW could she get along with an annoying person like Amelia, all of a sudden claiming to play cupid for THE two people she would never want to see in a relationship? "Get along?! _Sono fottute cazzate_! Bullshit!" Even though the Bastard tries his best to calm her down, Lovina can't hear any of his suing comments. She needs someone to talk to. But she doesn't really want to hear his voice. Because this makes her remember the She-Bastard's weird plotting.

"Roma? You still there?"

"Like hell! Like I would play along with the fucking She-Bastard any longer!" She screams and ends the call. About to throw the phone far away, the brunette jumps, when said gadget is taken from her hand.

"My my. Why so serious, _Linda_?" Trying to snatch her phone back, Lovina forgets every curse she was ready to scream at the person stealing her phone when… Wait, how is that possibl… No. That's a woman. "Ah! _¡_ _Eso es tan lindo!_ " Frozen in horror, Lovina stares at the woman in front of her. She looks so much like the Tomato Bastard. But she's a woman. With a gorgeous figure, beautiful wavy brown hair… If she'd dance, she must look amazing! Green eyes sparkling at her as she stretches her tan hands to cup them around Lovina's face: " _¡_ _Non es posible!_ You look even cuter than I imagined! Like _mi cariño_ when he was small!" The Spanish woman keeps fawning over her with that sunny smile… A smile which just so fucking reminds her of a certain Tomato-Bastard she doesn't want to think about right now!

" _Stai zitt... Silenzio. Per favore…_ " The teenager takes a step backwards and tells the older woman to shut up but, for once, remembers to try and act polite. After all… She knows one better doesn't offend a Spanish woman. Never. "Who are you?"

Unfortu… Luckily, their encounter is interrupted by a third Latin comment. This time, it's uncensored Italian. " _Vafancullo_ , what the fuck are you two doing…" Then a loud scream and more curses. "What are YOU doing here?!" The teacher tries to escape, but it's too late.Without a warning, the Spaniard releases Lovina and dashes to the man to strangle him.

Blinking and taking another look, Lovina has to rephrase her words. If she ignores the Italian's reaction, it actually looks like the woman hugs him affectionately. She places a long kiss on his lips and laughs warmly as the man splutters curses.

Still puzzled, Lovina takes a step backwards and slowly distances herself from the two adults. They somehow remind her of someone, but she can't quite put the finger on it…

It's already too late when Lovina realizes she just missed the moment to escape the awkward situation. The brown haired woman whirls around to look at her again with sparkling green eyes. She releases the man and claps her hand happily together. " _Cariño_ , just look at her! _Che linda!_ She's almost as cute as you were when you were smaller! But even more girly!"

It's hard to differentiate whether the teacher is turning red because he's blushing or because he is getting angry. "MORE girly?!" He growls.

Lovina can't tell whether they get along with each other or not either. –And why the fuck should she even care? Still, curiosity wins and Lovina asks: " _Signora_ … Who are you?"

This time, she can easily interpret the dark red on the usually grumpy teacher's cheeks as the beautiful woman beams at her with another warm… fucking annoying smile. "I'm this cutie's wife, isn't that obvious?" She sing-songs and sneaks her arms around his waist, provoking the man to curse even louder. The woman doesn't seem to mind and instead places kisses on his forehead, supported with whispers of how cute he is.

Embarrassed to look at the scene in front of her, Lovina's eyes start wandering around. She didn't even realize she ended up in front of the school gate while calling the Tomato Bastard…

The school gate from where a silhouette starts approaching the weirdo couple and herself. The silhouette starts waving happily. Recognizing Feliciana, Lovina sighs and takes another glance at the flirting/fighting couple. She takes her chance to escape the situation and darts towards Feli to make sure the other girl won't get caught up in this.

The Tomato-Bastard going all gaga over her friend is already enough, she doesn't need one more Spaniard doing so. "Aww! Look! There's two of them!" She hears the woman squeal behind her. Fortunately, they're already out of her reach. "Your brother would be thrilled to know! …Wait that phone call… _–_ _¿P_ _ore so es que me llamaste?"_

"Veee~ Lovi, who's that?" The student finally reaches her friend and grabs her wrist to whirl her around and return towards the school.

"No one." Still trying to understand what she just saw, Lovina wonders how in the name of tomatoes a mismatch like those two would actually survive the engagement and still get married. "Just another idiot couple." The brunette finishes her explanation and continues dragging her friend towards the doors.

First it's the She-Bastard talking about crack-couples and now she actually meets one?! That, and the fact her grumpy Italian teacher could act so differently in front of his beloved continue to bother her the whole afternoon.

Why, just why is everyone going on and on about relationships?

She just wishes this would all be over. The damned paper handed in. Amelia transferred to another school. And the memory of this whole day deleted.

Worst of all, Alice won't be there tonight. Because she's got work to do or something.

She would do… Not anything and not almost anything… She would maybe do something like cleaning her room, if she could just skip tonight's meeting.

xxx

What one wouldn't do for one's family… For example, standing in front of an empty building instead of sitting in an IMPORTANT meeting. Instead of doing her JOB.

Alice growls angrily when there's no response after she rings the doorbell a fifth time. The house's windows are pitch black and there's no sign of life in it.

Finally, she gives up and takes out her phone instead. Carriedo'd BETTER have a good excuse ready. The blinking light indicates a new text-message. "NOT him…" With a sigh, the Englishwoman turns back towards her car and unlocks her phone to read the message:

"Salut Chou-chou _. We've got a group of guests tonight and I have to stay at the restaurant until after midnight. Could you fetch Mathieu for me?_

Merci _."_

"Bloody wanker." Alice curses, searching through her contacts, then waits for the Spaniard to answer his phone. "Why and where am I supposed to fetch him anyways?! –Carriedo! Where the HECK are you?" The noise in the background lets her know the girls are still up and kicking –Literally.

"Ah, _Lo siento_ , I can't understand you. Think I'll leave the kitchen first…" What kitchen?! Not waiting for an answer, she starts her car and turns to drive towards her house. Fucking Spanish Git. She will SO kill him. "Now's better. _Dígame? Querida?"_ The man hums, clearly unaware of her murderous intent.

Before he can say anything else and before Alice could even get started cursing him, the phone is snatched away. "Alice?! Is that you? Where the HECK have you been! Hurry up and save me from these idiots! I'm going crazy without another sane person here!"

"Good evening, Lovina." The annoyed Englishwoman swallows her anger and tries to speak calmly and not snap at the teenager. "Where are you?" Though she doesn't really need an answer and already turns to drive homewards.

"Your house. Amelia let us in."

"All right." Alice sighs. "Hand in there. I'll be home in a few minutes."

Her cute little, white painted house awaits her with bright lights shining from the beautiful oriel windows and noise she can hear before she even gets out of the car. When she does though, she can easily make out the two teenage girl's voices. Though they seem to stop sometimes as if listening to a third person talking. –NOT Carriedo; his laughter is pretty easy to make out too.

What awaits her behind the door to HER house is exactly the chaos she expected. "Perfect timing! Mattie's just finished preparing pancakes!" However, just after being greeted by her noisy daughter dashing towards her and fangirling over her brother's cooking and the relieved Lovina's complaining how the adult dared to make her wait THAT long, the Englishwoman is rather puzzled to find her second child greeting her with a relaxed smile.

" _Salut Maman_."

"Mathew, what are you…" She starts, but then remembers the text she received. "Err, never mind. Good evening."

A forth voice; a rather unpleasantly happy sounding one, asks for her attention: " _Lo siento, Querida_. The kids insisted on waiting for you here." Carriedo appears behind the two girls blocking the doorframe; still bickering over whether or not they were too noisy and debating over the top five… top ten sweet dishes as they make their way towards the table.

"Did not!" The complaint follows immediately. And of course, Amelia gets back-up by Lovina, agreeing they just didn't want to have that many noisy people come over to THEIR house. -And be able to leave immediately as soon as it gets stupid.

At least they seem to agree for once.

Therefore the Englishwoman decides to join everyone in the kitchen as well. The girls found their places at her table.

Mattie however seems troubled by the girl's refusing comments. "I... I didn't know Tonio's home address...?" He tries to go for a different excuse and joins to sit next to Amelia, knowingly placing the plates with the pancakes out of her reach.

Faced with the three teenagers and a somewhat uncomfortable looking Carriedo, waiting for her response, Alice can't help but smile. Lovina trying her best to look at her with an unfazed expression, Amelia keeping up a pout and Mattie slightly blushing and nervously looking back and forth between the two girls; thinking he is the only one aware that they did something wrong.

"You three rascals." The adult tries to scold the teenagers, but her voice is too soft and a chuckle proves her words wrong. Mathew exhales and sits back down; the two girls follow suit, whisper-debating something she can't understand. Alice decides to sit down and fight for her share of pancakes as well. She thought this evening would turn into a catastrophe, but, contrary to her expectations, it started quite well. Her smile doesn't disappear even when sitting down next to her childhood enemy. Because the warm feeling still doesn't disappear and somehow, just somehow this feels kind of nice. Kind of like a family gathering. "Thank you for taking care of them, Tio"

Under the table, Lovina receives a well-placed kick to her shin and has to hold back a yelp. However, the Englishwoman is completely unaware of this.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Just me:**

 **To those of you who want to tell me I'm wrong; Yes, I know.  
Let's just say I warned you… So, please mentally prepare yourselves… :'(**

 **And to those wondering what the heck I'm writing in this A/N… You will eventually know what I mean.**

 **And, I'M SORRY!**

 **xxx**

 **Translations:**

 **French**

 _Salut les amies_ = Hello friends

 _Salut_ = Hello

 _Chou-chou_ = Honey

 _Merci_ = Thank you

 **Italian**

 _Ciao_ = Hello

 _Scusa_ = Sorry

 _Sei matto?!_ = Are you out of your mind?!

 _Che c'è?_ = What's the matter?

 _Lei ha perso il buon senso!_ = She has lost all common sense!

 _Sono fottute cazzate_! = That's bullshit!

 _Stai zitto_ =Shut up

 _Silenzio_ = Be quiet

 _Per favore_ = Please

 _Vafancullo_ = Shit

 _Signora_ = Miss

 **Spanish**

 _Diga/ Digame_ = Hello (on the phone)

 _¡Niña, no digas eso!_ = Girl/ Baby, don't say things like that.

 _Linda_ = Cutie (fem)

 _¡Eso es tan lindo!_ = My god how cute!

 _¡Non es posible!_ = That's not possible!

 _Mi cariño_ = My lovely

 _Che linda!_ = How cute

 _¿P_ _ore so es que me llamaste?_ = Is that why you called me?

 _Lo siento_ = I'm sorry

 _Querida_ = Beloved

 **xxx**

Win-win situation?! What fucking win-win situation! Burning with anger, Lovina's fingers fly over the keyboard as she speed walks through the hallway without caring where her feet lead her. She presses the phone against her ear and impatiently waits for the monotone tooting sound to stop and…

" _Hello_? Roma?" Instead of waiting for him to say anything more than his annoying Spanish greeting, Lovina immediately showers her guardian with curses and swears mixed with a frustrated attempt to complain about a certain fucking annoying student from her year.

The Tomato-Bastard in a relationship?! The two of them did well without any random woman in their lives so far! Ignoring the fact the Spaniard is a natural flirt, he never seemed to look for a relationship. –And Lovina doesn't want him to. " _That girl lost all common sense!_ "

" _Lovi~_ _Don't say something like that!_ " Even when scolding her, his voice still contains a hint of tenderness which riles her up even more. When he was talking to Alice, he sounded different. Lovina angrily shakes her head. She doesn't want to think about such things. She will NOT think about the bullshit the She-Bastard keeps talking about! Certainly! Grumbling, the teenager declares she will say whatever she wants to say and continues cursing the other crazy girl that started saying these weird things which bother her now. "Lovi~ Didn't you two girls get along just fine the other day?"

Get along?! Fucking HOW could she get along with an annoying person like Amelia, all of a sudden claiming to play cupid for THE two people she would never want to see in a relationship? "Get along?! _That's_ _bullshit_!" Even though the Bastard tries his best to calm her down, Lovina can't hear any of his suing comments. She needs someone to talk to. But she doesn't really want to hear his voice. Because this makes her remember the She-Bastard's weird plotting.

"Roma? You still there?"

"Like hell! Like I would play along with the fucking She-Bastard any longer!" She screams and ends the call. About to throw the phone far away, the brunette jumps, when said gadget is taken from her hand.

"My my. Why so serious, _Cutie_?" Trying to snatch her phone back, Lovina forgets every curse she was ready to scream at the person stealing her phone when… Wait, how is that possibl… No. That's a woman. "Ah! _My God you're so cute!"_ Frozen in horror, Lovina stares at the woman in front of her. She looks so much like the Tomato Bastard. But she's a woman. With a gorgeous figure, beautiful wavy brown hair… If she'd dance, she must look amazing! Green eyes sparkling at her as she stretches her tan hands to cup them around Lovina's face: " _How's that possible!_ You look even cuter than I imagined! Like _my honey_ when he was small!" The Spanish woman keeps fawning over her with that sunny smile… A smile which just so fucking reminds her of a certain Tomato-Bastard she doesn't want to think about right now!

" _Shut u… Be quiet. Please."_ The teenager takes a step backwards and tells the older woman to shut up but, for once, remembers to try and act polite. After all… She knows one better doesn't offend a Spanish woman. Never. "Who are you?"

Unfortu… Luckily, their encounter is interrupted by a third Latin comment. This time, it's uncensored Italian. " _What the fuck_ are you two doing…" Then a loud scream and more curses. "What are YOU doing here?!" The teacher tries to escape, but it's too late.Without a warning, the Spaniard releases Lovina and dashes to the man to strangle him.

Blinking and taking another look, Lovina has to rephrase her words. If she ignores the Italian's reaction, it actually looks like the woman hugs him affectionately. She places a long kiss on his lips and laughs warmly as the man splutters curses.

Still puzzled, Lovina takes a step backwards and slowly distances herself from the two adults. They somehow remind her of someone, but she can't quite put the finger on it…

It's already too late when Lovina realizes she just missed the moment to escape the awkward situation. The brown haired woman whirls around to look at her again with sparkling green eyes. She releases the man and claps her hand happily together. " _Honey_ , just look at her! _So cute!_ She's almost as cute as you were when you were smaller! But even more girly!"

It's hard to differentiate whether the teacher is turning red because he's blushing or because he is getting angry. "MORE girly?!" He growls.

Lovina can't tell whether they get along with each other or not either. –And why the fuck should she even care? Still, curiosity wins and Lovina asks: " _Miss_ … Who are you?"

This time, she can easily interpret the dark red on the usually grumpy teacher's cheeks as the beautiful woman beams at her with another warm… fucking annoying smile. "I'm this cutie's wife, isn't that obvious?" She sing-songs and sneaks her arms around his waist, provoking the man to curse even louder. The woman doesn't seem to mind and instead places kisses on his forehead, supported with whispers of how cute he is.

Embarrassed to look at the scene in front of her, Lovina's eyes start wandering around. She didn't even realize she ended up in front of the school gate while calling the Tomato Bastard…

The school gate from where a silhouette starts approaching the weirdo couple and herself. The silhouette starts waving happily. Recognizing Feliciana, Lovina sighs and takes another glance at the flirting/fighting couple. She takes her chance to escape the situation and darts towards Feli to make sure the other girl won't get caught up in this.

The Tomato-Bastard going all gaga over her friend is already enough, she doesn't need one more Spaniard doing so. "Aww! Look! There's two of them!" She hears the woman squeal behind her. Fortunately, they're already out of her reach. "Your brother would be thrilled to know! …Wait that phone call… _–_ _Is that why you called me?_ _"_

"Veee~ Lovi, who's that?" The student finally reaches her friend and grabs her wrist to whirl her around and return towards the school.

"No one." Still trying to understand what she just saw, Lovina wonders how in the name of tomatoes a mismatch like those two would actually survive the engagement and still get married. "Just another idiot couple." The brunette finishes her explanation and continues dragging her friend towards the doors.

First it's the She-Bastard talking about crack-couples and now she actually meets one?! That, and the fact her grumpy Italian teacher could act so differently in front of his beloved continue to bother her the whole afternoon.

Why, just why is everyone going on and on about relationships?

She just wishes this would all be over. The damned paper handed in. Amelia transferred to another school. And the memory of this whole day deleted.

Worst of all, Alice won't be there tonight. Because she's got work to do or something.

She would do… Not anything and not almost anything… She would maybe do something like cleaning her room, if she could just skip tonight's meeting.

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Longest AN ever :'D But it really is easier that way, so I am happy to do it :)**

 **Have a lovely week! To anybody celebrating Christmas: Enjoy preparations and don't forget the reason we celebrate ;)**

 **-Himawari**


	35. Sí, I do trust you

Slowly dragging herself towards the door, Lovina immediately realizes even coming here was a bad idea. She's had her fill of the loud laugher echoing from her classroom over these last days. Worse even, having to see the annoying She-Bastard first thing in the morning after pulling a fucking all-nighter for some cursed penalty-homework.

If it weren't Friday, and if she didn't do anything to keep herself from going insane because fucking tonight won't come and fucking faster, she wouldn't have come to this cursed building any closer than maybe accidentally looking in its direction from her bed.

But here she is. " _Chiudi la bocca_ " Lovina grumbles to herself and everyone else, informing them they'd better bring her some coffee or her rumoured bad-mood turns worse than anyone could imagine.

"Ah, Gru… Lovi!" Amelia chants from atop a desk; high on either adrenaline or an overdose of sugar. Or both. The She-bastard swings the cursed paper through the air which spoilt their night. (It's not like they couldn't finish it earlier because they spent the first two evenings gaming and fighting instead of actually working on it…) "Hey, that was sooo cool! When Mum told us how the treasures of «accidentally» sunk Spanish merchant ships got washed ashore at the English shores and stuff."

"Shut up." Rolling her eyes doesn't spare Lovina from witnessing the weird way of moving while she waves the stupid paper around triumphantly. It almost looks like an uncoordinated attempt to dance.

"Y'know, I BET these ships didn't just sink! OMG, for ONCE I'm actually proud the old Lady was raised in that country! Didn't know these stuck-up Brits had it in them to pull a stunt like this!" More migraine-worsening laughter. Lovina wishes that damned desk was exactly this English shore and she could just kick the She-Bastard onboard a boat heading towards the new world.

xxx

"Alice" Luca approaches the busy blonde with a folder. "Can I ask you something about this draft?" She places the papers down next to her subordinate to point out some things. The two women start analyzing the document in search for ways to make it better.

A buzzing sound interrupts the conversation. While the Norwegian looks up somewhat wondering, the Englishwoman lets out an angry sigh. She shakes her head before she turns to the document once more.

"What's the matter?" Her superior asks, much to Alice's dissatisfaction. Though her friend usually has this neutral and expressionless attitude, as of lately she seems to be interested in random unnecessary things.

Another sigh of frustration. "Nothing." She glares towards her handbag. The buzzing kept distracting her from work the whole morning and it seems he still hasn't given up. "Just some bothersome Git getting on my nerves." Alice sums her frustration up and tries to re-focus on WORK once more.

Unfortunately, Luca seems more interested in these annoying random things yet again. Nonchalantly, the Norwegian fishes for her friend's bag to check who keeps sending messages. "Carriedo?" She asks, yet it sounds more like a statement. She places the phone next to Alice's used keyboard.

"I wrote back six times, telling him to shut up and leave me alone." Without looking at the number of messages she's ignored over the past two hours, Alice drops the phone back in her bag.

Whatever it might be that triggered this unyielding personality trait of hers, Luca won't let her drop the subject that easily. She bends down to get the phone out once more. Places it in front of Alice's keyboard. "Just call him. He'll leave you alone after that. Maybe." Grumbling in disagreement, the Englishwoman remembers THOSE are the very moments she can understand why Emil refuses to call her his «big sister». Luca can be the last person you want to nag you about something. Once she gets started, she won't let you off. "If you want him to leave you alone, that's the easiest way to achieve your goal." Which makes Alice wonder who would be less trouble to deal with. Her or Carriedo.

The phone floats up through the air and shortly stops in front of Alice's eyes. "Luca…" Grumbling once more, the Englishwoman squints her eyes. She hears the snickering before she recognizes the fairy hiding behind the phone. Alice shakes her head. She won't play along. The phone moves to the right, slowly gliding over the table and stops just over her cup of tea. "Luca, seriously?" The purplish eyes don't reflect any emotion, but the gesture is clear. Because she doesn't want to discover which of the two women would win in a battle of stubbornness, Alice snatches her phone before the fairy drops it. "Would you mind if I step out for a bit?" she excuses herself to head outside. She'd rather invest five minutes arguing with Carriedo than who knows how long trying to find a new phone that fits her taste.

A few and annoying seconds later, the screen is unlocked, the contact selected and the Englishwoman impatiently drums wither her fingers on her leg, waiting for the Spaniard to answer the call. " _Querida_? Why are you calling?"

"Did you just ask why I called?! I'll hang up." She lowers her hand with the phone but halts in her movement as he screams for her to wait. "I give you five minutes. Use them wisely."

xxx

Stepping outside, Lovina doesn't spare a glance to take in the quiet surroundings of the empty schoolyard. Even though the temperatures are nice, somehow all the other stupid students like to crowd around the same stupid places. And normally, after a horrible morning like today, the South European would gladly come to this hidden place to calm down and enjoy a fucking no-annoying-people-around- _Siesta_. And her _pancetta sandwiches_.

Not today. Holding her phone against her ear, the brunette waits and waits.

"Yeah sure. Don't fucking pick of your damned phone a third time either!" she finally shouts at the computer voice kindly informing her the call can't get through.

It's not like this is only the 31th time she called to day. –Yes, she DID count them. After all it's up to her to call a certain cursed Tomato-Idiot as many times a day as possible and remind him of his promise. Pinky promise! Though THIS time she doesn't manage to get through. Lovina glares at her phone before she throws it back in her bag.

Fucking bastard. Whatever reason he might have to NOT pick up within the first two rings when his cute daughter calls, it will NOT be forgiven. No.

After all it's Friday. Challenge-day. And the day she won't shut up and leave him alone until he told her EVERY FUCKING TINY LITTLE THING! –Because she's already in a bad mood anyways and not because she is scared, he will avoid her again and of course not because she knows she would run and hide as soon as he shows the tiniest hint he won't tell her yet again. Nope.

Also, NOT because she's getting nervous but just because she has too much time over lunchbreak, Lovina searches through her bag yet again and calls the number she called. Calls, and waits, and throws the phone back in her bag as soon as the answering machine starts talking.

Frustrated, Lovina sinks down and searches through her bag yet again. This time, for her sandwiches. Just as she opens her lunchbox, she spots something in the grass and recognizes the black kitten Feliciana showed her a picture of the other day walk by and waits for the little ball of fur to disappear.

Fucking Tomato-Bastard and stupid black cat should just all leave her alone. Time to EAT!

Finally, she inhales the peace and quiet and the lovely fragrance of pomegranate mixing with the fresh air and… Lovina's head darts around.

" _Linda_!" However, it's too late. Without a chance to brace or armor herself with curses nor to run away, the teenager finds herself in the embrace of a certain adult she only just met. "My, is it just me or did you get even cuter since I last saw you?" Lovina struggles against the soft chest, trying to breathe and escape the tan arms. Unfortunately, no grumpy Italian teacher turns up to safe her from his crazy betrothed. Nor does the stupid cat or anyone seem to care about her getting strangled.

" _Signora_ , you're suffocating me!" Lovina finally manages and is immediately released only to find the Spanish woman whirling her around to take a proper look at the girl and repeating herself with:

" _Lo siento_!"'s and "Are you all right?"'s. Lovina nods furiously to make the spinning stop. The teenager stumbles, trying to find her balance. Finally, she thinks but it seems this was just the warm-up. "Ah, I'm glad! But dear! You're so skinny! Are you really eating properly?" The _Signora_ continues and snatches her bag to search it for any food while Lovina tries to talk to her and convince her she is perfectly fine. Of course, the woman doesn't want to listen to her words until she sees for herself. And of course, she shakes her head in disapproval when she realizes the small box on the grass is the only food the teenager brought with her. " _¿¡_ _Qué est eso?!_ Only sandwiches? No wonder you're so skinny! _Y estás tan flaco que se te ven los huesos!_ You can't possibly be serious! And no veggies! And…"

" _Signora, permesso_ … Today is an exception. I…" Hands on her hips, the woman whirls around to tell the teenager about the necessity of a healthy diet and so on. South European hospitality and so on. As if to support her lecture, the adult presents a whole basket filled with the most delicious specialties out of nowhere and orders the evasive girl to sit down.

" _Pequeña_. How could your mother let you sneak out of the house with only such little food? Don't take me for a silly woman saying this is all she packed! …Or is she one of these overly skinny models?!"

"No…" Lovina obeys and sits down. –She doesn't like where the conversation is going, but the teenager just discovered some tomato salad and her favourite cheese and sausages among the goodies. The _Signora_ really brought the most mouthwatering delicacies, making her _pancetta sandwich_ look plain and boring.

"Then from what country is she? Is it in her culture to eat such a small lunch? I do hope you eat more for dinner!" –Lovina watches the _signora_ march up and down, still lamenting over her small lunch and not realizing the teenager already started emptying the bag with extra food.

"I was raised by a proud Spaniard." Munching some salad, the teenager doesn't say it to ease the woman's mind but to prevent her from talking any more than that. "A man." She ads to answer the asking look of surprise and fishes for some more salad. "Single parent. He's a complete idiot, but he feeds me well."

"No way! _Pequeña_ , you can't be serious! –Ah, seems it can't be helped. I'll make sure you're staying well today!"

xxx

Alice feels her patience for the single parent fade with every mumbled word he utters instead of talking about the main topic. "Carriedo. Do you KNOW how many messages you've sent me today? Need me to spell it out? If not, get to the point." Some more mumbling on his part, then the annoying Spaniard finally seems to realize her finger is close to push the «hang up»-button.

"I'm getting nervous." Is all he finally admits.

Alice waits for him to continue speaking but gives up. "And why do you need to bug me just because you're nervous? Go annoy Francis with your messages. Or Gil. Or anybody." She tries to distract him from any longer distracting HER from her work. He refuses. "So just why do you choose your childhood enemy over your oh-so-awesome handsome-bullshit badass friends?"

His voice is uncertain as he almost begs: "Liz, is it wrong to say I just want to hear your voice right now?" For a second, the divorced woman misinterprets the words, but then reminds herself WHO is talking to her.

She made that mistake ONCE, she will not make it again. Enemies better remain enemies. And who could distract one better from an unpleasant thought than the person you dislike even more? Thinking about it, she must agree it would indeed be better to be annoyed than to feel nervous.

For the sake of good manners, the Englishwoman decides to play along. Won't hurt, to play along with his whims occasionally, right? "In other words, you won't stop bugging me unless I ensure you I know the worst English curses every time you call?"

A small chuckle follows her threat. "I'll gladly listen to the worst curses if you answer every time I call." Unfortunately, he doesn't see Alice rolling her eyes as the usually merry voice replaces his nervous mumbling. The Englishwoman figures the Spaniard must be used to it after taking care of Lovina for more than sixteen years. Then Carriedo's spirit seems to drop again and the he continues where he left off: "But what should I do, if she stops talking to me?"

"Carriedo…" Alice rubs her temples and checks her watch. Either Luca is going to kill her for taking so long or… she shouldn't think of any «or»'s. "The worst that can happen if you tell her is that she shuts you out for the rest of your life. Maybe she only avoids you for a few weeks." He wimpers unhappily. "Or she finds out herself. –I think you know best how that would turn out." The blonde recalls the long nights she spent lamenting over how to tell her children about the divorce. It ended the worst way possible. "Tio… Do yourself the favor and don't chicken out now. Trust me."

First, he doesn't say anything. Then, after a long sigh he finally speaks, a little chuckle ringing in his words: " _Sí_. I do. I trust you. _Gracias_."

"I didn't mean…" realizing the context he just put her words in, the Englishwoman struggles for words which isn't an easy thing if the person you are talking to realizes as well and starts laughing. "Oh, shut up!" She splutters. "Bug me again and I'll make sure you won't be able to use this stupid phone of yours any longer." With this, Alice finishes the call and returns to her desk. Looking around for Luca, she places the phone next to the keyboard.

xxx

Lovina decides the Spaniard's company isn't half as bad once the woman settles down next to her and makes sure the girl overeats herself until her belly aches.

During their whole meal, the Signora continues doing what Spanish _Signoras_ do most of the time. She keeps interrogating Lovina about everything. Everything. Including every topic, she doesn't want to speak about right now. Like her family, her childhood. And everything else as well. About her friends, why she learns Italian, her other friends, her favourite foods, why she doesn't speak Spanish instead, her favourite movies and so on.

And whenever she doesn't ask Lovina, she talks about herself. Luckily the _Signora_ seems to have similar habits as the Tomato Bastard because she talks a lot which saves Lovina from telling more about herself. The Spaniard speaks about her family, her husband, her childhood, her home country, her husband, her friends, why Lovina should learn Spanish, her favourite foods, her husband, her favourite movies, her husband and so on.

Lovina would've long gone crazy if it weren't for the loads of foods she hasn't eaten since she travelled around Spain over ten years ago; and for the thermos flask of perfectly roasted coffee.

Because, unfortunately, the teenager doesn't have many answers to all the questions. Knowing only half her family and being a person who keeps people at a distance, there are few people to talk about. Unlike other people, Lovina isn't the type of person gifted to socialize any more than flirting with a random cute guy she won't meet ever again.

Because as annoying as the Tomato-Bastard, the She-Bastard and even Feliciana can be, these three have something she doesn't. Though Lovina doesn't want to admit it; and will never admit it, she is glad to listen to the Spaniard tell her stories about her husband without breathing in between because she doesn't need to talk about her relationships.

Therefore, Lovina is glad to talk about someone she just recently met to show she DOES have friends. New ones. Which she met a lot over the last few weeks. Kinda.

"So, this new friend of yours. What is she like?"

This question makes the teenager think. Also, why she would even tell the Spaniard about Alice being a new friend. But then again, the Englishwoman is pretty ok. Easy to get along with, doesn't seem like the type of person experiencing mood swings. Doesn't just barge in at the worst moment and decide what they should do at random (unlike a certain someone), doesn't flirt with too old men (unlike another someone); and doesn't go crazy for anything cute, muscular, fluffy … (Unlike the same another someone). She doesn't dance on tables either or laugh loud enough for the whole floor to hear. Doesn't show off at every possible moment, doesn't brag about wearing the latest jacket, doesn't confuse soccer and football. Nor does she try to play cupid and fails the weirdest possible way while trying to imitate a spy. Doesn't spoil her brother either. (Which is actually kinda cute and the weird nicknames she she comes up for everyone are actually funny, but Lovina doesn't even want to think about this particularly ANNOYING someone).

Back to the topic… Well, she's just proud and calm Alice.

"Well… I guess she's pretty ok? Dunno why exactly, but she's the… You know. NOT the annoying type. Even though many people claim the opposite." The brunette's eyes dart around while thinking. They stop once they realize a silhouette approaching the two women sitting in the grass. "They don't realize THEY are the actually annoying ones." Lovina keeps looking towards the person approaching them because they look awfully familiar. Almost reminds her of the She-Bastard. The last person she wants to see right now.

"This Alice sounds like a nice person." A short pause follows, and the Spaniard seems to have realized the silhouette as well. "Sounds like someone you could trust when it gets tough." Lovina, still busy trying to recognize the silhouette registers the adult next to her standing up to start cleaning up the leftovers.

" _Merda_!" Once her observation is finished, the brunette girl jumps right on her feet, almost colliding with the Spanish woman. She doesn't care though. She just confirmed it IS the She-Bastard. And she won't let the annoying girl spoil her mood with her romance-nonsense or whatever weird anything she might come up with. " _Scusi_ , gotta go. Something just came up. It's an emergency. _A presto_!" Without wasting time for more formalities, the teenager waves a good-bye at her companion and dashes back towards the entrance.

Though she regrets her action as soon as she's up on her feet, the South-European ignores the fact she just stuffed herself and continues running towards the big door even though her stomach feels bad because of it. As soon as she reaches the entrance, the brunette swings it open and stumbles inside… Almost in the arms of a blonde…

" _Merda_!" Lovina curses once more and recognizes the familiarity of the face. Blonde, wavy hair. " _Va morire da solo, idiota_!" the girl grumbles and turns to look for the bag she just dropped when they collided.

She barely hears the quiet voice, which certainly DOESN'T belong to Amelia: "So… I'm sorry…" So quiet, it's only a whisper sounding like the whine of a kicked puppy.

Slowly, the girl turns around to take another look at the person she just told to go die alone. "… _Matteo_?" Lovina realizes her mistake too late. As she watches the tall boy trot away with slumped shoulders, the girl remembers something she'd rather not.

 _Matteo_.

He's Alice's son.

His dad is French. And his dad speaks French.

 _Matteo_ speaks French.

Which means he might have actually understood.

Every

Single

Word.

" _Matteo_? I…" But he has already disappeared.

xxx

After checking her weight, the other night when she went to the old lady's house, Amelia decided to walk to find a Subway rather than having some burgers at the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the sandwich doesn't seem to last long because she already feels like she could eat another one.

Dreaming of some cookies she didn't allow herself to buy just yet, the blonde spots something which draws her interest.

Grumpy and some woman (Holy shit, she wouldn't be surprised if that woman turned out to be her Mum… Though that would be to easy) having a picknick.

A picknick. Just like that. Which is actually a cool idea and she should convince everyone to have one too. Yeah, she'll do that. And; for the sake of collecting ideas of course, she should go over to them and check what they brought with them.

However, Grumpy just leaves and the woman starts collecting everything. The blonde speed-walks towards the tan lady who seems to pack her stuff together faster than necessary. Odd.

Her agent senses react immediately, as she brings the pieces together. A secret meeting in a place where few students go to. And both disappear as soon as somebody approaches. The woman… Amelia scans her from head to toe and makes sure to remember every tiny detail from the red rose in her brown waves to the black pumps.

Yup, if this isn't Grumpy's mum, she's most likely her aunt. Distant relative. Someone like that. Someone of importance. Oh, and she might know some background information about Tonio.

As she quickly closes the distance between herself and the brunette gattering her things with an incredible speed, a movement in the corner of her eyes makes the blonde stop.

"Mattie?" Yep, that hunched pouting cutie over there couldn't be anyone but her baby brother. The Grumpy-relative completely forgotten, the girl dashes over to inspect the curled-up figure sitting under a tree in the middle of the yard.

Coming closer, Amelia realizes Mattie isn't pouting but rather… Holy shit, he looks like someone had told him he will have to overthink his maple-only diet because there's been a shortage of the syrup. He looks horrible. Like a sad little baby polar bear. So cute.

Feeling her heart warm with condolence at the sight of the strawberry blonde, Amelia slowly approaches and gently pokes his shoulder to inform him of her presence. "Mattie?" Instead of asking what happened, the girl setles down next to him and nuzzles against his shoulder. The boy doesn't react, but she knows how he feels without him telling her.

For a quiet moment, Amelia just sits next to her brother to share his pain. She feels his shoulder gently rise and fall when he breathes in and out. Listens to the wind in the branches and waits.

Either he will feel like talking to her to ease his mind, or he won't. Just enjoys having someone at his side. -He would always do that for her too.

Amelia blinks at the sun and remembers the moments she shared with her brother. Siblings. They share your pain, but they can just as well be the worst pain in the ass. Precious people who will always be around.

Thinking this makes her wonder how things are between Grumpy and Happy.

Though it seems impossible they are siblings; or even twins, the girl hasn't given up on her idea yet. -But if it were true, wouldn't it be sad if they never learned they are siblings after all? Stealing a glance at her empty-eyed brother makes her heart ache and Amelia decides to talk with Feli.

Lovi probably wouldn't tell her anything even if she knew. But Feli might. And then there's this weird woman Lovi had lunch with. And…

Her mind starts trailing off, but she snaps back upon hearing Mattie's voice: "Sis? I think it's time to go back inside." He shifts and ignores Amelia's grumbled complaint. "Sis, you really need to head back. And I've got practice." The boy ruffles her hair and forces a smile which doesn't reach his eyes then trots towards the gym, leaving his sister to blankly stare after him.

When his figure disappears from her sigh, Amelia decides to get up and head inside as well. Maybe she'll spot Feli.

But the thought of Mattie's hurt expression doesn't leave her alone as the girl slowly walks through the hallways, hardly looking around. Though she spots a brownhaired person, it turns out to be the grumpy Italian teacher speed-walking past her as if looking for someone.

But no Feli.

And no clue what could have happened to Mattie.

xxx

Step by step, she hops through the hallway, down the stairs and back up again, not even sure anymore why. Once more, the teenager turns to walk down another stair and outside through another door and cross another part of the campus.

Still, nothing.

Even though she keeps looking, knowing she WAS looking for something. Or someone. But she got distracted by that butterfly. Oh, and then there was this cute boy. And when she started talking to him, she heard someone sing beautifully so she went to see who it was. But by the time she arrived, they had stopped so she couldn't figure it out and then…

Suddenly, she spots a small little something behind a pillar.

Hopping closer to inspect it, the teenager recognizes the familiar silhouette of a kitten.

Black fur, blue eyes and a little white handkerchief-thingy around its neck. Though it's incredibly cute and its fur looks so shiny she can't help but want to pet it, there's this weird glare in its eyes. Kinda scary.

But cute.

But just so scary!

Too scary to approach.

Therefore, she decides to dash around the corner and quickly run and hide. As she runs down the hallway, she suddenly sees and remembers who she was looking for. She also immediately realizes something seems off. Because this hunched figure couldn't possibly be Lovina. Something must've happened.

xxx

Alice's fingers fly over the keyboard, but this time she doesn't ignore the buzzing sound. Glancing at the ringing gadget first, the Englishwoman frowns before she answers the call.

"Yes, Carriedo?"

 **xxx**

A/N

 **Translations:**

 **Italian**

 _Chiudi la bocca_ = shut the fuck up

 _Siesta_ = nap time afte lunch

 _Signora_ = Miss

 _permesso_ = please/ if I might

 _Merda_ = shit

 _Scusi_ = excuse me

 _A presto_ = see you later

 _Va morire da solo =_ go die alone

 _Idiota_ = idiot

 **Spanish**

 _Querida_ = Beloved

 _pancetta sandwiches_ = ham sandwiches

 _Linda_ = cutie

 _Lo siento_ = I'm sorry

 _¿¡_ _Qué est eso?!_ = What is this?!

 _Y estás tan flaco que se te ven los huesos!_ = You're nothing but skin and bones

 _Pequeña_ = Little one

 _Sí_ = yes

 _Gracias_ = thank you

 **xxx**

 **Nyo!Spain**

 **Maybe OOC because I portray her based on my experiences with Spanish and Italian "Mamma's". Probably too extreme though… and yeah, kinda wild as** _ **Kramburg**_ **wrote in the comments ;) I like writing her!**

 **xxx**

 **Just me :)**

 **!HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Laaate new year…)**


	36. Which bloody idiot invented phones

Alice's fingers fly over the keyboard, but this time she doesn't ignore the buzzing sound. Glancing at the ringing gadget first, the Englishwoman frowns before she answers the call. "Yes, Carriedo?" The Englishwoman waits for a few moments then rolls her eyes. "If you don't have anything to say, I'll hang up…" Yes, she didn't like it when he talked just for the sake of talking because he was nervous, but now he doesn't talk at all. Turning back to her computer, getting ready to start writing, Alice counts the seconds she waits for his complaint to come.

… Four, five, six, seven… nothing. Twelve…

"Oh come on! I know you're nervous and stuff whatsoever… just fucking start talking."

Seventeen, eight… "Oh, so you even know what his current mood is?" Her counting is interrupted by an unpleasantly feminine voice.

"Oh bloody hell, shouldn't YOU be in class now?" Alice's finger withdraw from attacking the keyboard and the Englishwoman makes sure to save the document before starting another verbal war with her daughter. Who, of course, complains that SCHOOL would be the only thing her mother cares about. The adult rolls her eyes, sighing: "What else is there to care about…" The girl already run away. It's the least she can do to remind the teenager to properly attend school whenever the girl just randomly feels like skipping out of the classroom to bother her mother.

"More important you ask… How about Mattie?" The adult's interest is immediately back at the mention of the name. "So you care if it's him but not…" At least Amelia's voice doesn't sound as accusing as when she complained her mother apparently cares more about her school-attendance than about the girl herself.

"I don't…! Ah, never mind." Shaking her head, Alice wonders which bloody idiot invented phones to begin with. She'd rather people would send messages by tying them around a yellow chick's claw or a weirdly-shaped white bird named Pierre. "What's with Mattie? I'm listening." Because if they still used this way of communication, she could just skip the unnecessary part of the letter and get straight to the point.

"… That's just the thing. I actually don't know. Not really. I mean… I DO know that there is something. But he wouldn't tell me…" To Alice's surprise, the girl actually starts talking. She actually tells her mother about what is bothering her, confusing the adult with her unspecific way of explaining. "Which is not like him at all! Because he would normally tell me! And… It's Mattie! Whenever there is something, he knows he can count on me! 'Cause that's what heroic big sisters are here for! I don't know him like that! He wouldn't… It must be something horrible!"

Without even giving Alice a chance to figure out what exactly happened, Amelia stops speaking and seems to expect her mother to answer. "I see. So, how am I supposed to help you?"

"You're his Mum?" The statement follows immediately, causing the Englishwoman to cough. "I mean, if I don't know and you don't know either, then who would…? –And somehow I don't want to ask Dad." It seems as if the teenager didn't consider her mother might not know. "So I decided to call you?"

The divorced woman isn't sure if she should feel touched her child finally relies on her or… "Amelia… I'm…" the adult tries her best but isn't able to put her thoughts into words properly and stops mid-sentence. "Well, yes… We are his family." She tries a safer path. A more logical approach. (Curse feelings AND talking about them) "However, I wasn't there. And you, as his sister, were. So… I think it's be the most logical thing to just ask him again."

A short "Huh?" is Amelia's only reaction.

Uncertain if her idea actually helped Amelia out, Alice tries to re-word it. "–I mean… Maybe he needs some time before he talks to you? I'm sure he will eventually confide in you." Uncertain if what she said made sense to Amelia, the adult waits for her child to speak again.

"Ah! That's true. Thanks a bunch! I'll just go talk to him again asap. Bye!" All of a sudden, the call is over. Alice blinks at the gadget, wondering:

What just happened?

xxx

Lovina opens the door, ignoring Mister Kirkland's warning glare. "What? Can't a girl go to the bathroom?!" The brunette snaps at the red hair, hiding her phone with her hand as she passes him. Like she wanted to sit and listen to his lesson any longer anyways.

As soon as she's out of sight, the girl turns to head to a window and glares outside. Unfortunately, what she sees is the very part of the schoolyard where she spent her lunchbreak which ended in a disastrous encounter.

 _Matteo_.

And what she told him.

Not wanting to feel whatever this bothersome feeling is called, the teenager decides she needs to rant about how shitty this day is. Needs someone to talk to. And it's exactly the Spanish _Signora's_ words which kept resonating as soon as she decided to escape the classroom to make a call. "Carriedo?" Arguing whether she might actually try and rely on Alice, Lovina doesn't register the voice on the other end of the line. Because, even if it's just for ranting, she might rely on her just a little. And probably the adult won't push her away?

"Ah… Alice?" Lovina realizes Alice answered her phone. Though somehow she sounds weird. Unfamiliarly harsh. The woman doesn't say anything for a few seconds. Then, sounding somewhat confused and apologizing this time explains she only read the last name when she answered and thought it was the irritating Spanish Git. "… Why would the Tomato Bastard call you?" Lovina wonders aloud.

"Yes, why indeed… Now tell me, what's bothering you?" With a comforting voice, the woman asks a question the teenager doesn't know how to answer.

OF COURSE Alice wouldn't know. But to ask WHAT is bothering her? –As if it only were one simple silly thing… "Every fucking thing is, Alice." The girl sighs frustrated. "EVERY fucking thing. Not to mention each and every very fucking annoying person I met today!" Safe for the _Signora_ , but the Spaniard was really the ONLY one.

Even though she is only getting started, the long sigh on the other end of the line makes her stop. Somehow, Alice seems different today, or is it just her imagination? "Lovina, dear…" And the teenager doesn't like that motherly tone either. "Isn't it lesson time right now?"

The brunette rolls her eyes. "No."

Alice's motherly tone changes to doubting as she insists: "I see how you're having a bad day and need someone to talk to. However, I am certain you are supposed to be sitting in Allistor's classroom right this minute." The accused teenager grumps to deny the adult's argument. Alice sighs once more and, as if talking to someone else she mutters: "… Yes… No, his daughter…" and then, talking clearly again, she explains she needs to finish the call now.

"Yeah. So, by." Disappointed by the short conversation and the scolding, the teenager tries to think of another way to vent her bad mood.

Before she hangs up, Alice speaks up once more: "Good bye, Lovina. And, if you still need some sane people around you, you know where to find me. Oh, but please do call in advance, ok?" Not very content with the opportunity somewhere in the undefined future rather than right now, Lovina grumbles unhappily. The teenager would immediately take the adult up her word and stand at her doorstep right after lessons just to see if the Englishwoman meant what she said. She would, but not today.

Staring at the phone in her hand, the girl wonders who the other person speaking in the background was. She jumps when the gadget vibrates and checks it only to find another annoying message: «I suppose you are already on your way back to the classroom? -Alice» Quickly, the girl types a simple answer and turns to head the other way. The phone buzzes again. «Good. So I could call my brother right now and he would give me the same answer?»

Lovina stops walking. Simply to re-read the message. Yeah. And, because she doesn't feel like aimlessly walking around anymore, she decides to return to the classroom.

xxx

"For goodness's sake!" Alice puts her phone down and shakes her head. "What is wrong today?" She glances at the pile of work sitting on her desk and reminding her she didn't manage to get any of it done so far. "Since when does everybody confide in me?" Shaking her head with serious confusion, Alice searches her friend's neutral eyes.

Luca shrugs her shoulders. "I am more surprised by your mood-swings. Annoyed as soon as you recognize your daughter's voice, acting all friendly with Carriedo's daughter but obviously irritated whenever the man himself calls."

Preoccupied with her own confusion, Alice doesn't really listen to Luca questioning her friend's habit of forgetting every one of her social skills when talking to certain people.

Instead, she continues pondering over the question why anyone would call HER or all people? To get advice or just because they're feeling down. Lost in thought, her mind trails of trying to think of people who would listen to her as she had to listen to them today. Who would listen if SHE was feeling down? Or bored. Angry. Nervous. Insecure?

Without realizing it, her eyes wander from the folders back to her phone. Few faces flash in front of her but she isn't certain she would actually tell them about her worries. More irritating than the fact she sincerely hates her inability to put her feelings into words is the thought of a person she would definitively not confide in no matter her mood.

He told her he trusts in her. And he told her to trust him too. But she can't see why she should ever do that. They have been rivals for the longest of time after all.

A soft clattering interrupts the Alice's thoughts. She turns to find Luca replace her cold tea the third time today. This time she places a little bowl with some kind of square, wrapped candies next to it. " _Hopjes_. Taste like coffee." The Norwegian explains. "You look like you need more than just theine right now."

The Englishwoman frowns and doesn't move. "Aren't theine and caffeine basically the same?"

Her friend shrugs her shoulders. "I don't believe so. –And Tim brought a year's worth of them when he came over last Sunday. I'm already sick of them." With that, Luca turns to return to her desk.

The confused blonde decides to unwrap one of the Dutch sweets. This day's been weird to begin with. Why not try some weird sweets for a change. Though she would prefer some _After Eight Chocolates_ over these Dutch… what were they called again?

xxx

Turning the car to the street of her school, Antonio feels as if his hour has come. He does NOT want to stop in front of this school nor to get out of the car and wave at Lovina to take her home. As it might be the last time he does.

Instead of moving to the car door's handle, his hand moves to his phone and he takes it out, the red blinking light reminding him of its dying battery. This time he can't call Alice only to hear her voice.

Another reason why he can't press the application he would want, is her threat to call the police and inform them she is being stalked. Which is not only the most worrisome threat but also the most likely to be put into action.

He released a long sigh, finally facing the reality he can no longer run from his responsibility and, even if he hates the idea, he has to face this. And if he doesn't tell Lovina today, he knows, he will most likely never tell her.

A loud knock on the window finally proves every possibility of running away impossible. Sighing, the Spaniard unlocks the car and watches Lovina get in from the corner of his eyes; her hand held up with a lifted pinky finger.

As if he could forget… " _Sí_ , I will tell you." He sighs, head and shoulders slumped as he starts the car.

Lovina, ignoring his greeting by staring straight outside the window places the pizza-flyer down atop the dashboard, some pizzas crossed out and one dish circled with a pen.

The tension between them doesn't die down as he fondles for his phone, the battery giving him only enough time to place his order and home address before the gadget turns itself off.

Antonio glances at the menue once more and swears to himself he will never prepare the pizza Lovina asked him to order again.

xxx

Alice places her cup down upon hearing the bell ring and adds one more unfinished tea to the many she let go cold today.

Well yes, the Englishwoman DID tell the South European girl she could come over. However, the Adult did most certainly not expect the girl in question to turn up only few hours after she made the offer. For the six hundred eighteenth time this afternoon, Alice wonders just WHY she told the teenager something like this in the first place. And for the six hundred eighteenth time she remembers how restless the teenager sounded over the phone.

Yet, this was supposed to be her weekend and, sparkly hell, she wishes reversing time would be as easy as baking fairy dust cupcakes. She clearly isn't fond of the thought to have to take care of an ill-humoured teenager after playing telephone psychologist for the very girl's father, keeping him from going insane.

When Alice opens her door, she isn't surprised to find a certain Mediterranean standing there. What she didn't expect though is a sniffling and crying teenager, hair and clothes messed up from running.

The adult's mood changes from distant to caring within the fragment of a breath as she calls out to the shaking teenager: "Goodness! Come in!" Without asking any questions, Alice grabs the shaking girl's wrist and pulls her inside. Ignoring Lovina's muddy shoes and the mess they make her hallway, the Englishwoman drags the teenager behind her towards the living room where she gently pushes her to sit down on her couch.

The girl immediately curls into a shaking ball of sniffles and sobs. Alice places herself next to Lovina and drapes her arms around her to wait until she is ready to speak.

Gently drawing little circles at the girl's back Alice tries to calm her killing range aiming at a certain Spaniard down. Her worries find confirmation in the tonelessly muttered words: " _Mama…_ "

"Lovina, dear, give me one second." The pile of despair almost disappearing in her arms nods when Alice mutters the words against her dark brown hair before slowly getting up. "I'll be right back at your side." She ensures once more, pressing Lovina's hand before darting out of the room and towards her kitchen to attack her phone.

Immediately after dialling a certain number and hissing a "Fucking Spaniard. What the bloody hell did you tell her?!" when the call is answered. Then hangs up without waiting for an answer.

She will not leave him without knowing where his daughter is, now finally understanding why he was so strongly opposed to telling Lovina. He must have known she would react exactly the way she did. Yet he was only running from the unavoidable as she can see now. He should have told her years ago.

That said she told him where Lovina is, yes. But she will give him hell if he dares come near her house and ensure he keeps his distance from the sniffling girl that came running to her for comfort.

First thing she does is unplug the landline. Then the Englishwoman starts barricading the house to resemble a bomb-proof shelter: Rushing through the house, the blonde makes sure to lock every door and window as best as possible. Closes each and every curtain. She continues with shutting her cell phone off and de-activating the door bell, then takes another turn to ensure she didn't forget anything before she returns to Lovina.

After the sudden rushing around of the adult, the teenager stares at her with empty eyes and Alice tries her best to pull an understanding smile. "The damned Git won't be able to come and bother you." Lovina blinks in confusion and Alice approaches her to sit down next to the teenager again. "Trust me. I am a divorced woman. I KNOW how to keep a man out of my house." She seems to understand and drops her head downwards in a nod.

After the slow movement, silence falls once again, leaving either of the two struggling with their own thoughts and trying to put them into words.

"You don't need to say anything, you know." Alice finally manages to break the unpleasant atmosphere and Lovina's head drops downwards once more. Then the girl turns to the other side to stare at the curtain hiding the view of her back garden.

Both women start relaxing their bodies against the comfortable couch and allow their thoughts to fill the room instead of senseless talking.

Even when Lovina starts sniffling once more, neither feels the need to speak up and therefore they remain in silence.

 **Xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations/ definitions**

 **Italian:**

 _Signora_ = Miss/ Lady

 **Spanish:**

 _Sí_ = Yes

 **Dutch:**

 _Hopjes_ = A sweet made with sugar, cream, coffee and butter

 **English:**

 _After Eight Mint Chocolate Thins_ = Mint fondant coated with dark chocolate

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Just me:**

 **Kinda a filler chapter? More progress in the next one!**

 **A good week to you all!**

 **-Himawari**


	37. 16x Idiot

Antonio runs over the stony path which leads to Alice's house. He has messed up. He's messed up BIG time and he knows that this time even Alice won't be able to handle his daughter's outburst as easily as the last one He is deeply grateful, the Englishwoman called him. Even if she only cursed him, thanks to the call he knows his daughter is in good hands.

"Lovina!" The Spaniard shouts and starts pressing the bell. –Without any effect. Desperately realising that the thing must have stopped working at the worst time, Antonio starts hammering against the door. "ALICE! Is Lovina in there?! PLEASE tell me she is! _Por favour_! Alice!" But nothing happens.

The Spanish man already starts worrying she might not even be at home when he realises the dirty footprints at the pathway. Too small to be his. And he doubts the tidy Englishwoman would leave her pathway looking like this.

Lovina is here. She definitively is.

But he can't go in there.

Antonio continues banging at the door, before he starts looking for another way to enter by walking around the house. But he finds nothing but closed curtains and doors; and even when shouting and knocking, all he gets in return is an irritated neighbour scolding him to shut up.

xxx

After the Git finally quietened down and stopped banging at her windows, piece returns to the living room. Lovina turned over to cuddle towards Alice and hide her face under her messy hair when she heard her father rampaging around the house and only relaxed when her neighbour cursed the Spaniard in her weird German dialect.

Alice makes a mental note to thank the grumpy Swiss later and maybe bring something over.

"…" Lovina grumbles a few words which the Englishwoman interprets as something along the lines of «noisy» and « _Bastardo_ » At the later word however, the girl starts sobbing once more and Alice watches the suddenly frail body shake under her hand as if it were a different Lovina.

The girl always tries to act strong and bratty. But Alice knows better than anyone about the weakness some people tend to hide away under a strong façade. "It's ok. I won't let your father talk to you as long as you don't want to." She tries to display her best motherly tone to comfort the girl. The shaking suddenly stops and instead, Lovina starts to strongly shake her head in disapproval. Thinking she messed up trying to sound empathic, Alice listens to the next words the teen grumbles. The Englishwoman's eyes widen as all the puzzle pieces get put together.

"I WILL KILL HIM! Oh I will so KILL the damned GIT! Why wouldn't he tell you sooner?!" The Englishwoman jumps to her feet, leaving an irritated Lovina behind. Even though she knows the kid needs her to stay at her side now, Alice decides her next action will also have a satisfyingly calming effect on the girl. "Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!" She can NOT leave it at this! "Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!" Alice rushes through her hallway and unlocks the door.

Slumping against her door on the doorstep, the WANKER barely manages to jump up before he falls backwards.

"Antonio you IDIOT!" Alice slaps her hand against his cheek as hard as she can. Leaving the puzzled man tripping and quickly struggling back up on his feet again, Alice lets him encounter the closing door with a loud slam.

Then the Englishwoman stomps back to the living room while still cursing under her breath, only managing to partly calm herself for the sake of the teenager still sitting in the same spot, unmoving. "Sorry…" Alice grumbles as she lets herself fall back on the couch with an angry huff. "I needed to let some of my aggressions out."

"Thanks…" Lovina mumbles and the adult can almost spot the teenager's mouth curl into a tiny, weak smile.

"Now. How about you tell me the whole story?" And the mood drops to unpleasantly heavy again. From sitting with her legs pulled to her chest, Lovina curls up into a more ball-like figure, biting her lower lip.

The teenager finally manages to repeat the fact which tore her world apart. "He's not my father." Once more they fall silent as Alice waits for Lovina to continue her story. "I don't know more than that though, because I ran away when he told me." Her voice barely a whisper, Alice wraps her arm around the girl once more and pats her hair.

It's less empathy towards the sad teenager than anger at the adult source of the problem making her thoughts run and her fists clench. It takes her a hard time to ignore the nagging anger and desire to dash outside and confront the Git with all of it.

She can do that later. And Alice knows she will!

Glaring at Lovina's red shirt without saying a word, the adult decides to slowly roast the wanker alive as soon as she finds a way to bend the law. She will find a way to make sure she won't be sued for taking an eye for another. An identity for an identity. A father's looks for his lies about his daughter's origin.

Tomorrow. She will think of ways to bend the law tomorrow.

Instead, the blonde tries to focus her thoughts on the girl shaking against her. Looking at the brown hair similar in appearance to his own curls, making it hard to believe they are not related. If the two women hadn't forced him to speak the truth, he might have kept it to himself and taken the secret to the grave.

"He's a fucking idiot for not telling you before." Alice grumbles and combs her fingers through the brown locks. Lovina nods against her hand. Still biting her lip, the girl tries her best to keep the tears back until Alice mutters a soft: "It's ok to be angry. It's ok to cry. It's ok, because you love him and he hurt you." Alice gently pulls the shaking girl towards her shoulder and listens to the desperate sniffles turning into suppressed sobs until she starts crying loudly.

Even though it's an awkward moment for thoughts like these, the Englishwoman is jealous how easily the teenager manages to show her emotions. Something she still has a hard time with, even in front of people she knew for decades.

xxx

Antonio stops his endless walking up and down in front of the door once more to stare at it. It has been quite some time since Alice smacked him without a warning. And a horribly long time since his cute daughter cursed him with any kind of swear word she knows and the neighbours were near to calling the police. The house from where his childhood friend's cursing echoed also quieted down a while ago.

The Spaniard takes a closer look at the door and it's near surroundings. Should he search for the spare key and let himself in? He glances around for any kind of suspicious-looking stone, flowerpot, garden gnome… Flower pot! Without thinking twice, he approaches the flowerpot placed on the windowsill and finds… Nothing. Except for a few lost slaters either rolling together or hurriedly shuffling away.

All disappointed, Antonio places the geranium back and stares at the small bunny-figurine sitting between the flower's green leaves. He almost didn't see it due to it also being some sort of green. Lovina might know the proper description of this light greenish-whitish colour but the man doesn't.

Uncertainty clenching his heart together, the (foster) parent decides to search until he manages to find a way to get to his baby girl. The brunette turns around again and searches the nearby bushes, bricks, just anything. –Without success though.

Antonio lets out a heavy sigh and sits down at the doorstep of Alice's house once more. Great. He looks around, not wanting to be damned to wait out here until Alice bursts out of this door again to beat him up once more. At least then he could catch a glimpse inside; maybe distract the blonde woman and enter the house like that.

But it has to be SOMEWHERE; that damned second key!

Standing up again and walking in circles in front of the door doesn't change anything about the fact that Antonio is more distraught now than he was before telling Lovina. He wants to see his baby girl and talk to her. Explain, if she lets him. And even if she doesn't… he still needs to try!

He goes hunting for the key once more. Checks the bricks, the stairs, the flowers once more but finds nothing but the green bunny. This time however, he takes the bunny to take a better look and chuckles as he discovers some small extra attached to the creature's back: Little wings decorate the bunny. Inspecting the weird creature closer, the Spaniard realises that it's big enough to hide a key. He turns it just to find his expectations met. Stuck to the bottom is a silver key.

With a triumphant grin, Antonio removes the key from its place and quietly unlocks the door, taking off his shoes before he enters. The man is greeted by a dark hallway. The house looks almost abandoned, the only sign of live a half-finished teacup in the dim kitchen.

Making sure his feet make no noise, he slowly continues his way towards the living room. Gently pushing the door open, the brunette sighs relieved when he realizes two silhouettes on the couch. Lovina sits curled up against Alice's shoulder. Antonio stops to burn the beautiful picture in his memory, for a short moment forgetting the reason that brought this situation to him. "Quit starring, Git." A hiss and an angry green glare interrupt the magic moment and Antonio approaches the two women. Alice sits on the couch like a queen staring at her subject, arm protectively wrapped around Lovina's shoulder.

"She fell asleep?"

"What does it look like, Arsehole." Alice grumbles with enough venom in her voice to make him shudder. Antonio whines apologetically and makes sure to keep a safe distance from the Englishwoman. The latter however frowns at him and commands him to bring a blanket from the other seat to cover Lovina.

He quickly does as told, and, against his desire to take the girl in his arms, draws back from her to stare at the slim hand which pushed him away.

"Who allowed you to touch her?!" Alice settles her hand back on Lovina's shoulder as the Spaniard's gaze wanders to meet the Englishwoman's. Her eyes give off the same protective vibes he got from her very figure once he entered.

Right now the distressed adult's only hope is Alice might allow him to stay at their side for the night. His eyes try to convey his plead but the Englishwoman only narrows hers, refusing. Then, she motions her head to turn his attention towards her right. "Take off my shoes, git." Alice stretches her right foot forward to emphasise her order and the Spaniard quickly does as he is told, helping her remove the slippers from her delicate feet.

"Alice…"

"Miss Kirkland." She demands and continues her snappy orders. "And bring a blanket for me too. You can go find it in the drawers over there." Alice elegantly points at it and he feels just how much she enjoys him following her every command. Yes, he messed up big time and the blonde will make sure he feels her displeasure. In her own way. At least as long as she can't move and kill him with her bare hands.

At first he enjoyed the sight of his two most important women cuddling against each other but right now he is simply glad Lovina leaning against Alice ensures his safety.

xxx

Alice glares at the Spaniard running around her house to fulfil her orders, clean the mess Lovina's shoes made and finish whatever odd job comes to her mind. After a while, the Englishwoman feels her need to boss the Git around as an outlet for her rage slowly fading. Finally being able to word her anger, she spits a: "You fucking KEPT it from her for over sixteen years, you Wanker!"

Freezing in his movements, the brown haired man in question opens and closes his mouth, searching for the right words while the blonde eagerly waits for his answer. She wants to hear how he justifies his doings. See whether he can explain his actions.

"I… I was afraid she would leave me if she knew I am not her father." Carriedo quickly tries to explain his point but gets shut off by Alice's growling voice.

"Excuse me?!" To her disappointment his answer displays nothing more than selfishness. Plain fear of showing weakness. Of being honest. Alice feels her blood boil. "This is NOT about you not being her real father, Git." Wednesday night Carriedo asked her to trust him. She considered it. But only two days later she learns the man himself hurt the trust of the very person he raised. For sixteen bloody years! "This is fucking about you BETRAYING her trust by NOT TELLING."

Carriedo looks like he knows he can be thankful Alice's ability to move is blocked by Lovina sleeping in her arms. At the hate-filled words, the girl shifts softly before she quiets down again, hearing the blonde's voice calming her: "Shush…" The Englishwoman's mood shortly changes and she gently caresses the girl's dark brown hair, remembering her distressed look when she stood at the blonde's doorstep.

"But I…" Alice's rage increases to unbearable again at the Spaniard's defending reaction and she glares at him, shutting him up mid-sentence. With each of his attempts to meet her eyes as if he wanted her to understand, her irritation grows. The Englishwoman feels how her focus changes from being angry the Spaniard lied to Lovina to being angry Carriedo tried to win Alice's favour while keeping her in the dark. Lying to his childhood rival just as he lied to his (adopted) daughter.

Then, her anger subsides to a familiar calmness as the realisation sinks in: Whyever the fuck she considered trusting him, his insincerity in this situation just saved her from making a big mistake. Coldness clouds her thoughts and coats her feelings as she shuts him out of her live again.

Not that he had ever been a part of it to begin with. Merely a hateful rival making nice moments turn worse, yet nowhere close to the worst moments in her live provided by a certain frog.

Someone she could easily kick out. Alice's eyes narrow as she rewords her thoughts. Knocking him out should be enough for the moment.

"Bring me the kettle." Alice orders him coldly and earns a questioning look. "Bring me the fucking kettle! Silver teapot. On the stove." The blonde repeats, her voice icy. If she could, she'd like it to freeze the air around them as well.

With a confused expression, Carriedo quietly disappears towards the kitchen and shortly after returns holding the kettle. "There you go." He brings the kitchen tool to her but Alice doesn't move a finger to take it. Instead, she waits for Carriedo to move closer and hold it right in front of her hands. With a quick hand movement, she tells him to lean in even closer.

"Thank you." Alice hums sweetly, not letting the innocent sound reach her eyes. Then she grabs the metal object and smacks it over the Spaniards head just strongly enough to make sure he gets a lovely hurtful bump but nothing more. Probably.

"What the…!" Antonio yelps and his dark green eyes flicker confusedly.

Alice doesn't care and hisses at him: "You fucking HURT her TRUST! Now go boil some water and bring me an Earl Grey, Arsehole. And think about how to regain your daughter's trust." She pushes the kettle back in his hands and turns to seemingly comfortably snuggle under the blankets.

"Yes Ma'am." The Spaniard blinks and turns to leave again. Watching him walk outside the room, Alice wraps the blanket closer around herself in a desperate attempt to warm her freezing feelings.

"Now leave my sight and don't you dare come within the distance of a thirty-minutes' drive unless I officially allow you to." Only waiting for as long as he needs to finish his last task, the divorced woman ensure the man will keep his distance as soon as the Spaniard appears with her teacup, holding a cold pack against his head.

xxx

It is warm. Something causes Lovina to blink and an angry voice interrupts her sleep just long enough to catch a:

"This is NOT about you not being her real father, git. This is fucking about you BETRAYING her trust by NOT TELLING."

The teenager recognizes Alice's voice and turns slightly towards the warmth sitting next to her. It's an uncomfortable sleeping position, but the calming "Shush" makes her relax into a gentle slumber again. Some muffled words she doesn't understand anymore when returning to the lands of dreams emit comfort and safety for her hurt soul.

 **xxx**

 **Translations:**

 **Spanish:**

 _Por favour_ = Please

 **Italian:**

 _Bastardo_ = Bastard

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **FINALLY lifting the cover over the story of Lovina's origin.**

 **Loviiiii *cries* I'm sorry!**

 **To the guest who wrote a review in Chapter 11: YES! You guessed that part right!**

 **AND, dear Guest, I re-read my answer to your comment and I think it sounds really harsh. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. And thank you for your review again!**

 **xxx**

 **Supein no Bakaaaaa!:**

 **Well, it's just 16 times "Idiot". Because the 31 "** _ **Baka**_ **!"'s are reserved for America ;)**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 ***super mild SPOILER ALLERT***

 **I hope I didn't disturb you too much with this revelation. (Was it much of a surprise? I dunno…)**

 **Yet I need to warn you, you are not going to like the whole story of how Lovina came to live with Antonio. :( Makes me flinch every time I think about it, so I think it's fair to warn you chapters in advance.**

 **Also: Check out the A/N in chapter 38!**

 **That said I hope this week holds a bunch of good surprises for you; despite where this story might go!**

 **-Himawari**


	38. Another family's family problems

**Another family's family problems**

 **A/N**

 **I wrote in the A/N in 4t's chapter 37 you should watch out for this Author's note. However, many things changed and now this A/N is just another simple A/N. Sorry if I confused you.**

 **Here's chapter 38 for you!**

 **xxx**

The morning sky as grey and cloudy as her sleep-deprived mind, Alice stretches her hurting limbs and rolls her shoulders in a desperate attempt to ease the pain of sleeping in a sitting position.

Waking up with a snoring South European with swollen eyelids next to her reminded the Englishwoman of all the unpleasant thoughts she found herself confronted with last night. After remembering, she wasn't able to sit with the girl still leaning against her shoulder any longer. Alice carefully shifted and freed herself from the teenager and laid her back on the couch. It wasn't an easy task, but she didn't want to deny Lovina her sleep either.

To ensure that Wanker of a Spaniard daring to call himself a father did as he was told, Alice checks every inch of her property for a sign of him. Fortunately for him, the Englishwoman doesn't find hide nor hair of Carriedo.

The yard the only place left unchecked, Alice uses the opportunity of walking around the house as a way to wake up. She shivers in the morning air and tries to stand and marvel at the colourful sunrise for the sole reason to avoid thinking about a certain Wanker. Who is just an acquaintance of a friend of hers. A father lying to his daughter. A cursed Git. A two-tongued bastard.

Anger rises in her as not thinking about him doesn't work.

Alice shakes her head on her failed attempt to ignore her thoughts and quietly repeats she shut him out of her life. Not even a childhood rival worth remembering, he is nothing more than the acquaintance of a friend.

Soon, the Englishwoman begins to pluck some herbs and peppermint for fresh tea in her garden and wonders where she found that one recipe for the brew. "Must be in one of those gardening magazines" The blonde woman yawns and hopes it's not in the one Lovina borrowed when Carriedo asked… forced her to babysit Lovina for the second time.

Alice angrily crumbles some herbs in her fist and throws them away to pluck some others. Just a friend's acquaintance; but one which horribly annoys her.

Still, Alice feels like even this anger is wasted on the likes of him and searches for another way to distract her mind. Maybe following the recipe and trying to get the measurements right for once will help her keep her thoughts at bay.

When she returns to the house, the door closes just a bit too loudly behind her, apparently waking Lovina from her sleep.

The girl enters the kitchen shortly after the adult and Alice almost drops the herbs once more. "Goodness!" Lovina looks worse than she expected. Her slouched stature as well as her lifeless expression seem to flip a switch inside the Englishwoman she didn't know was there.

It's no longer only anger towards Carriedo. She feels a desire rising inside her to erase ever situation, every memory and even every person causing the girl in her care sorrow.

A strong desire to protect. Her angrily shaking hands balling to fists, Alice watches as Lovina shuffles from the door to the kitchen cupboards as if someone tied stones around her feet causing her to stumble over things that aren't even there.

Another emotion she isn't familiar with creeps their hands around Alice's heart, slowly tightening and a voice whispers «What if it was Amelia?»

What if it was Amelia?

What if it was her daughter?

How would she react?

A lout sound makes her return to reality as Lovina collides with the drawers but doesn't even curse.

What, if it was her Amelia.

But right now it is not Amelia. Right now it's LOVINA stumbling through her kitchen like a lifeless vessel.

The divorced woman is painfully aware of that fact. As well as she is aware of the realisation SHE might have caused similar pain to her own daughter. Similar experiences to what her childhood rival makes HIS daughter experience right now.

Swallowing the pain coming along with this thought, Alice gently grabs Lovina's arm. She leads her to sit on a chair instead of aimlessly trying to take out a coffee cup but forgetting the coffee.

Quietly sitting at the table, the teenager continues to stare blankly as the adult prepares Lovina's favourite beverage and finally brings it to sit down next to the girl. "Here." She places two cups of black coffee down, not bothering to prepare some tea or sugar for herself.

Today, she might as well share the bitter taste with Lovina.

xxx

Antonio stares at his reflection with horror.

Walking up and down all night long, worrying over both; the unknown future and past decisions reflects in his complexion. Starting with his mop of hair looking even worse than normal to his sleep-deprived grimace perfected with dark bags under his eyes, he looks downright horrible.

One could think Antonio; famous as a young adult for celebrating all night long and still greet all his hungover friends cheerfully the next morning would easily recover after a night of pacing through his house. His mirror reminded the man even he got older. As did Lovina. She wasn't the small child he took along to travel South and North Italy and eventually Spain.

Maybe, the Spaniard wonders, Alice was right. He probably really missed the right moment to tell Lovina.

He grabs his phone to stare at it as if it would magically display a missed call or a text message. Which is unlikely because he didn't leave it out of sight for more than two seconds since he left Alice's lawn. The stoic Englishwoman made her point clear he was not allowed to approach neither Lovina nor herself if he treasured his life. And, for once, reality weighted him down too strongly to let his optimism take over: Thinking either Lovina or Alice would contact him is just wishful thinking.

Still, he needs someone to talk to right this moment. But that someone isn't answering her phone either. Even if his friend didn't answer, right now he wouldn't even mind if Tim picked up his half-sister's phone instead.

Antonio turns from the mirror and leaves the bathroom to prepare a coffee and slouch down on his couch, wallowing in negative feelings.

He tries to call Emma over and over again and he will continue dialling the number until she finally answers. If anyone could help him, it would be her. He just wished Emma and Tim were here. Then, the Spaniard laments, both; Lovina and him would have another place to turn to in this bullshit situation.

Lovi knew the siblings since she was five; even though she doesn't know the two of them met her shortly after she was born. They know everything. And they supported him over the years. Even now, for their sake Emma invests her holiday to…

"...Antonio! How are you?" As soon as the clicking sound and Emma's merry voice indicate she finally picked up her phone, Antonio sits up straight and plasters a grin over his downcast expression. He pushes his worrisome thoughts to the back of his mind and pulls off his best «everything is all right» act.

In moments like these, the Spaniard kind of hates how he always masks his real mood. But he does it anyways. Just hearing her sunny voice, he doesn't want to spoil Emma's holiday with his troubles. –After all, maybe she returns earlier than expected and he could tell her then. In person.

"Emma! It feels like ages since I last heard your voice!" The Spaniard starts chattering happily, lying to himself about how he really feels. "Did Tim arrive in one piece?"

The woman chuckles. "Yes, I'm glad he did, even though you might have preferred it if he did not. –Though he continues complaining about the sun screen he needs to apply everyday." The two continue their conversation about Emma's sailing holiday around the South Italian islands.

The South Italian islands he heard a lot about. And one of the few places he hasn't been to with Lovina yet. "...Did you… find something?" Antonio finally asks and sighs as she states she didn't. They were his last resort. The last place they didn't look yet.

"I'm sorry Tonio, but still no sign."

"What a pity." Because the brunette was carefully trying to mask his worry, Antonio doesn't realize he sounds unnaturally cheerful when hearing the bad news. Emma, however, notices the contradiction and immediately inquires what happened. "Nothing." The Spaniard lies.

"Antonio." The woman stretches the word slowly then continues scolding: "We've been friends for ages so you should know better than giving excuses. Elaborate. Now." She forces him to spill the beans now.

The man sighs, knowing he can't escape her. Slowly, he starts to tell Emma the whole «Lovina's mum- case». An irritated huff in the background lets him know Tim is also listening in on his story.

Messing up both, timeline and reality with his feelings, he somehow manages to narrate the whole story of how Lovi started interrogating him about her mother. Insisted he told her no matter how he avoided the subject. And how Alice did the same. –Ah, yes, he met her again. How? Oh, he forgot to tell them about the whole babysitting-thing. Which is also why she went to Alice's place after she ran away. Where she is now. And when he saw her sitting there, it hurt so much and he wondered… "You're trailing off…" Tim reminds him to complete the story. Antonio tries and finally quiets down.

Emma interprets his silence and guesses he finished his story. "So…" The Belgian asks for clarification: "You told her you're not blood related. What else did you tell her?"

"I…" Antonio stutters. "I just told her I am not her father?"

" _Allemachtig_." Tim groans. "He's a worse idiot than I always thought." The half-siblings mutter among themselves for a bit. Most likely Emma scolding Tim who easily presses his point reminding her Antonio messed up.

Their debate seems to come to a timeout and the woman addresses Antonio again: "I do hope you plan on telling her the whole story as soon as possible?" The man in question remains quiet, unsure how he likes the idea. "Antonio!" Her voice increases in volume. "I can't believe it! You told her that much already. Don't deny her the rest!"

"But…!" The Spaniard splutters, suddenly confronted with confrontation. He doesn't like where this phone call is going. He called to have someone listen to him. "I can't just go and tell her I don't know where her family is."

He whines but Emma's voice is hard as iron. "You told her the first part of the truth. Go tell her the whole truth now." Antonio realizes he has nowhere to run now that even Emma seems to force him to speak about things he'd rather now.

"First I don't tell her we're not related and then I break to her I still have no clue where she comes from?! Impossible! She will hate me for the rest of my life!"

"Stop whining, idiot." It seems Tim seized the phone from his half-sister. Antonio flinches as the other man's familiar deep voice is laced with anger. "It's better if she only hates you for the rest of YOUR life. Would be worse if she hated you for the rest of HER life, right? You're older; you'll die first."

With a clacking sound, the phone call is finished. Antonio gapes at the phone, wondering if he just heard that right. However, for once he is somewhat thankful for the harsh way Tim usually treats him. Because today, the other man's interest in treating him coldly didn't surge from their distanced relationship but from serious concern over Lovina's well-being.

Devastated, Antonio sits down and allows the realisation just HOW MUCH pain he must have caused Lovina to sink in.

A short message follows the call: _"I suppose you know what to do? After all it's not like she is all alone in this world."_

Antonio puts the phone away with a sigh. He does not want to do that… But he knows he has to. And he also knows Emma's right. Lovina's life isn't as cruel as he made it out to be.

The cruel one is him. Not wanting to see Lovina leave his side once she learns the whole truth.

" _Lo siento, Roma."_

Antonio accepts the fact he messed up. And he knows he has to do his best to regain some of his daughter's trust. Yet before he can do that, he has wait and pray Alice will soon need his help or something and call him.

With a long sigh, the Spaniard places his phone in his back pocket and resigns himself for long, depressing weeks of waiting for that miraculous moment to happen. He might be an optimist, but the Englishwoman's icy voice and narrowed eyes yesterday showed him any interference on his part is strongly objected.

He knows she is determined to take care of everything her own way.

Not, because she simply reverted to her lone-wolf tendencies, but because she lost every little bit of trust she might have had in him.

Her words told him to «think about how to regain his daughter's trust». And her distant coldness nonverbally communicated that the same task applied to the Englishwoman. –The woman's words spoke about Lovina, but her cold eyes spoke about herself. If he wanted to get either of the women's trust back, he had to fight for it.

xxx

Not really paying attention to the story. Alice's eyes fly over the lines of black letters written on white paper. Apparently not even reading her favourite adventures helps her distract her mind. Instead, the Englishwoman registers every breath her guest inhales and exhales as if she were afraid the girl stopped breathing. Alice glances over the pages of JK Rowling's work at the near-death looking body. The brunette looks pale and her empty eyes stare at nothing in particular. Nothing reminds of the proud, rebellious figure the girl usually keeps up. The girl's appearance would frighten any child a lot more than Voldemort's.

The troubles Alice faces might differ from saving the world of Wizards and Muggles alike; jet the woman knows she shouldn't underestimate it either. No. Alice got herself involved with another family's family problem which, in the end, isn't really different from her own family troubles. Plus, taking care of Lovina forced the Englishwoman into contact with both, Amelia and the realisation she needs to DO something if she wants to see a change.

But as there is not much she could do right now, the divorced woman tries to re-focus on her reading once more. Her eyes fix the letters and slowly trace over them. Her thoughts wander beyond the book cover instead. Once more, Alice finds herself gazing at her friend's curled-up figure.

Seeing the girl like this hurts and makes the adult wish the cheeky teenager would jump up to overtake the kitchen and start preparing foods rather than refusing it. And she knows, to her, this is more than «somebody else's family business». This is a friend in pain.

"Lovina?" The distracted blonde places the book down again and slowly approaches the brunette and waits for the girl to notice her. She gently runs her fingers through the girl's locks, hoping to get a reaction from her. Lovina doesn't even blink at first. Alice continues caressing her nonetheless and the teenager seems to at least register the touch. She slowly shifts more to the side, gently leaning in to the touch and closes her eyes.

When she was younger, Amelia also loved it when her mother did this. "Lovina?" Alice whispers gently as she did to her daughter as well. For a few moments, the woman continues, hoping Lovina might finally break the silence and speak. But the only sounds meeting her ears is the slow breathing of her friend and the ticking of the clock.

Alice shifts her focus from the girl to the clock and suppresses a sigh. It's long past noon but Lovina wouldn't even look at the plate of food the Englishwoman prepared for her.

"You should eat something." She tries again but the girl slowly shakes her head. "Coffee?" Alice tries again. This time, Lovina shifts and turns to stare at the back of the couch. "Can I bring you anything else?" The girl shakes her head again, causing the unpleasant clenching around Alice's heart to increase once more.

Its long past noon already yet all Lovina ate or drank so far was a few sips of black coffee. The girl spent the hours blankly staring at nothing in particular, sitting or lying completely still and, worst of all, not speaking a single word.

If it were Amelia, she might know what to do. And if she didn't, she could always ask Matthew or Francis to help her out.

There is no way she would ever call the teenager's guardian. He might know what to do. Probably. However, she couldn't call the man, and, she had to admit, she also didn't want to. She hated the very thought to admit she needed his help. She hated the thought of hearing his voice, his accent, and his excuses. Yet most of all the blonde woman hated the fact she didn't WANT to call the brunette, even though she knew she had to, eventually.

Yet she doesn't want to. Wants to keep her distance at any cost.

xxx

Bored to death, Amelia stares out of the bus window.

She hates driving in busses like this. Driving by herself would be so much more fun, but she doesn't have a car she can highjack and escape to drive around with. Hence she had to enter the horrifying moving vessel of endless boredom.

That and the fact her earphones broke down made her day worse than it already was. Also, not giving a fuck about the other people in the bus and listening her music for everyone to hear isn't an opinion. The last time she tried the driver told her to turn it off unless she wanted to walk to her father's house instead.

Which she doesn't.

The blonde turns to stare outside again. The row houses passes by, one looking like a clone of the other. Amelia tries to distract her thought coming up with a theory they're living in a virtually programmed world and the houses weren't even real. –Which would make sense because all of them look like someone copy-pasted them on their lawn.

Instead, the girl ends up hallucinating she fell into a crack in time and is now cursed to drive along the same section of a street for the rest of her life.

A small girl with long silver hair opening a door to run outside, holding something that looks like a violin and an adult brunette chasing after her finally breaks the monotone rows of houses and the endless repetition.

Unless, Amelia continues imaging, they weren't even there; were nothing more than a trick of her mind.

"Music academy." The driver's bored voice announces the stop the girl remembers well and finally, the scenery changes. The huge school building comes into sight, marking the frustrating first third of Amelia's journey as covered. Two thirds left to go.

Yawning, the girl turns from the window to juggle her phone and thinks about ways to make Matthew talk.

The boy might be able to fool his father, but she won't fall for his brother's excuses.

xxx

Alice slowly withdraws her hand placed next to Lovina's brown hair and stands back up. Sitting here and staring won't change anything. Just as every attempt of hers trying to talk to the girl or get her to eat something didn't work. The Englishwoman stands still for a few more long moments before she sighs resigning and starts to collect the cooled down dish and coffee cups from the small table to bring them to the kitchen.

Once more, she searches through her cupboards hoping to find something Lovina might eat as her eyes stop to stare at the maple syrup she bought when she met Lovina at the shopping mall. The kids almost emptied the bottle the other night all of them were together. Lost in thought, the woman takes the bottle out and wrinkles her nose in displeasure. Seems some of the syrup was spilled and run down the maple leaf-shaped glass, leaving it sticky.

She takes a cloth to wipe the bottle clean and puts it back where she took it. Everyone was so relaxed Thursday night. Matthew spoiled them with his world-renowned pancakes; Amelia happily fought with Lovina in a way that almost seemed like friendly bickering and even Alice found herself laughing alongside Antonio at the stories of pranks the kids told each other, trying to nominate the top three pranks in the categories: «most hilarious», «worst fail» and «longest grounding after their cover got blown».

Alice shakes her head. It seems this was only the calm before the storm. A desperate attempt to forget the worries lying ahead of them; Antonio as well as Lovina skilfully distracting themselves from their nervousness. Her children got pulled along by the Spaniard's fake act of «the world is so perfect I brighten the surroundings with my simple presence». Lovina gladly took the chance of forgetting her worries as well. And even Alice had to admit she ignored the man's fake-laughter and joined the game of playing «happy friend's gathering» rather than keeping up her usual distance to her childhood rival. Or confront him with harsh reality and tell him to stop faking.

After all, he managed what she couldn't once more: He made Amelia comfortably smile and laugh in the Englishwoman's presence. And the mother knows she would most likely trade everything for such moments.

Even if it meant to ignore the disturbed feelings of both; a friend and a rival.

Alice slowly closes the cupboard and stares at it for some time. She was confronted with different situations and feelings as she hasn't been for months or not even years, to be honest. Of course, living with Amelia made certain she got a decent confrontation with anger and complaints, but not confusing feelings such as nervousness, doubt or even deep hurt.

At least that's how she experienced living with Amelia after her divorce. Who knows how the girl felt during that time?

Maybe it's because not being able to help Lovina bothers her or, just maybe, it's the nagging feeling of regret about keeping a distance to her daughter which makes the Englishwoman take out her phone. Something she never did before, but somehow she realized inquiring how the girl is doing is something she should do more frequently from now on. Something she wants to do more frequently.

She quickly dials the number she knows by heart and waits for Amelia to answer.

"Who are you and how did you steal my mother's phone?" To said mother's surprise, the accusation sounds honestly displeased and protective.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but it IS me" Without wanting to, Alice lashes out the same way she usually would whenever talking to Amelia and immediately feels sorry she did.

"Oh. Hi..." Alice can't clearly tell whether the teenager is glad she isn't talking to a thief or annoyed to hear her mother's voice instead. Most likely both, the adult figures. "Wait a sec. You called me? YOU called ME? YOU?" Now the girl sounds obviously annoyed as she fakes her surprise.

"Amelia, please." Alice rolls her eyes as a reaction to the bitter undertone in the girl's voice but reminds herself she didn't make the call to start another fight. The Englishwoman tries talking with a softer voice as she continues: "It's weird if you try to be sarcastic. That's my job. While you're the family's optimist." Which is true and, speaking the words, memories make the mother smile.

Apparently, Amelia heard the warmth in her voice and sounds seriously confused as she asks why her mother would call her. "Something's definitely wrong with you today." She adds, doubting.

"Well, it's been some time since you called. Hence I wanted to ask how things are going with Matthew." Alice remembers and does her best to ignore her daughter's last remark.

A long silence follows. Then a sigh. The Englishwoman recognizes the discouraged sound in Amelia's voice: "I'm heading over to Dad's place right now to grill Mattie. He acts as if nothing happened but refuses to leave the house this weekend saying he just started reading a very interesting book. I think hat's just plain bullshit." Alice hums in agreement, understanding the girl's doubt. "I called Dad and he said Mattie behaves the same as he always does. If anything, he is more quiet than usual."

Alice nods, forgetting Amelia can't see her. "Which is equal to not talking at all." She sighs. Amelia agrees and immediately starts talking, only stopping to gasp a breath and then continue talking. Alice patiently listens to her daughter's many worries and doubts until the girl feels at ease and finishes the call.

Lost in thought, Alice walks back to the living room and gazes at the girl curled up on her couch. She traces the lines of her brown locks with her eyes with sadness. They look so similar to Carriedo's.

Amelia has her family she can call. As for Lovina… She only has Carriedo. But calling him isn't an option for the girl.

Even so Alice knows she has to call him.

She couldn't let Lovina know though. Yes, she cared for the girl and Lovina seemed to know. Yet the two of them only became friends some weeks ago and she doesn't know the girl as well. She is glad Lovina feels save in her presence, but just sitting and waiting isn't her thing. Alice wants to DO something for Lovina. But everything she tried to ease the girl's pain so far didn't work. The teenager still refuses any kind of food and conversation. She was relieved to find the girl at least react to soft, gentle touches.

Still, in the end the person who knows best how to comfort someone is their parent. Biological or not.

Lost in thought about another family's family problems, Alice almost drops her suddenly buzzing phone and, out of habit, answers the call without reading the caller's ID.

xxx

After the call with Emma, Antonio started marching back and forth again. Walking around in circles, trying to understand and put into words what he had missed the years before, he kept on talking to himself for what feels like ages but might have only been a few minutes.

He needs to process his thoughts. What had happened; what had gone wrong the last sixteen years.

Once more he dials the number he knows by heart. Emma answers the phone and Antonio immediately justifies himself: "I know you told me to speak with Lovina as soon as possible. But she doesn't want to see me right now." He stops himself before he starts rambling about these circumstances. "And Alice won't let me go near her anyways."

The person at the other end coughs. Antonio waits as if hoping Emma might say something. However, no answer follows and the Spaniard takes it as an encouragement to continue the results of his musing.

"I am really a horrible father, right? I mean, of course I wanted to protect Lovina, but is that what she wanted? And it seems I don't have a feeling for the right time to talk about important things. –Messed that up in the past as well… And yet again the same happens with Lovina. But, there just is no time right to tell the baby you raised you don't know their parents?" He laments. "I should have just told her as soon as I could 'cause there is no «right moment» for things like that."

A snort answers him.

"I was an Idiot, wasn't I?" Antonio sighs and waits for an answer. The other person; maybe it's actually Tim; doesn't answer... He can't tell which sibling it is because they don't say anything. "I mean... I just wanted to protect her! But... In the end I was just a selfish father."

The listener hums in agreement.

Desperately, the man tries to find the words he'd need to convey his thoughts. Many come to his mind and he knows all of them are right: "Father..." Antonio snorts sarcastically. "Call me _idiota, imbécil, tonto_ or even _boludo_ … _majadero_ or _burro_ ; or all at once. I guess the term «Father» doesn't fit me after all." He finally sighs. And finally, he finds the description he is looking for: "I'm just a bloody Wanker"

"Very much so." The listener states drily and ends the call sooner than Antonio can recognize the voice, the accent… and put the pieces together.

"Alice?!" the Spaniard stares at the silent phone in his hand, the Englishwoman's name displayed on the screen.

 **xxx**

A/N

 **Translations:**

 **Spanish:**

 _idiota, imbécil, tonto_ , _boludo_ , _majadero_ , _burro_ = Idiot

 _Lo siento_ = I'm sorry

 **Dutch:**

 _Allemachtig_ = Holy shit

 **(I'm seriously shocked (read: amazed) by the amount of multilingual swearwords one finds on the net…)**

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Reviews:**

 **Thanks for the reviews! Kramburg, you made my day! Or rather you made my week; twice!**

 **I am curious what everybody else thinks too ^^ I'd be glad if you share your thoughts and give feedback. ;) I want to become a better writer and make sure my stories make sense and are interesting.**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **I wrote a super monster chapter and ended up splitting it in two… Which means next week I'll definitively update on time! (for once…) Yay!**

 **Take care of yourselves and I hope there's good weather at your place. (I heard next week will be very rainy over here :/ Shit happens.)**

 **-Himawari**


	39. It's selfish to ask another favour

**It's selfish to ask another favour**

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **I just realised I started this story one year ago! Yahoo!**

 **xxx**

It's Sunday afternoon and it feels like years passed since Lovina appeared at her doorstep rather than just two days. Alice's head hurts and worry didn't let her sleep the other night. Slowly but surely, the blonde feels her energy fade.

Alice shifts in her armchair, eyes fixed at Lovina. Just like the day before, the girl doesn't leave the spot unless she really needs to go to the bathroom. Then returns to curl up on the couch again.

The teenager might have spent the whole night zapping through television channels and games alike but didn't speak no word nor curse. Now she's back to pretending the whole day is siesta-time. And, worst of all, continues to starve herself.

As the other day, snacks and coffee remain untouched.

The Englishwoman sighs at the completely new level of a depressed teenager. Nothing compared to the emotional mess her own daughter tended to become whenever something happened. Maybe kind of similar to Matthew's habit of locking himself in; but different as the boy could easily be soothed with his favourite beverage and sweets. Every time the mother placed a tray in front of his door, accompanied with a simple knock, she would find it empty the next time she checked.

"Lovina, I'll need to go do some shopping. I will be back in half an hour." She gently touches the girl's shoulder and informs her of her plans even though she strongly doubts her words will reach the brunette. To make sure the teenager doesn't suddenly snap out of her empty stare and wonder where Alice went, the adult leaves a note and a house key next to a new cup with hot coffee. Then she turns to leave the house, quietly closes the door and locks it from outside.

For the third time already, she checks her small list of purchases and nods, readies her pen and takes out her phone, not really wanting to make the call.

But she just knows she has to.

"…lice?" Carriedo answers the phone faster than Alice thought was possible and truthfully guesses he spent all day waiting for her call.

"It's Miss Kirkland." The blonde reminds him calmly.

"Sí." The man agrees and for once, Carriedo seems to wait for Alice to speak rather than just talking himself. She can just assume he keeps himself from attacking her with questions about his (not really) daughter.

The Englishwoman answers his question nonetheless as it's also her sole reason to call: "The only food she consumed since you left was a few sips of coffee." Alice glances at the small list in her hands:

\- Tomatoes. Fresh ones of course. Different kinds as well.

\- Chocolate-covered coffee beans

 _\- Jamón Serrano_

The list is small. The few things written on it the only ones she could think of painfully made her realize again: she doesn't know the South European girl as well as she thought. Just three things written on a short, short list. Her hope Lovina might eat at least something if she brought them: tiny.

A desperate sigh escapes her, showing the Spaniard her frustration and messing with her intention to appear distant, calm and collected.

As it's already too late anyways, Alice continues: "She's in the worst state I've ever seen. Carriedo, it pains me to see her like that! If she'd at least eat! Just something!" Her voice breaks and she finds it difficult to hide her worry and her shaking voice any longer. Forgotten the distance she tried to keep from him. "I'm heading to the mall right now. I don't know what else to do. Maybe she'll eat some tomatoes. Or Pasta. Gosh, if only I could cook as well as you!" Another frustrated sigh. "Not that she would even look at the foods…" She trails off.

Carriedo doesn't interrupt her this time either, even though she doesn't speak, trying to regain her posture. Instead, Alice hears him swallow and tries to imagine his expression right now. She suddenly remembers how nervous and uncomfortable he was whenever the topic of Lovina's mother came up in the past. Remembers his slouched stature. And can't deny the fact Lovina displayed similar behaviour over the last hours.

They may not be blood related. And he is a bloody wanker. But they are still similar. And he raised her. If anyone knows how to take care of Lovina right now, it's him only. As much as she dislikes it, she has to admit she needs Carriedo's help.

"I mean, how do you cope with that? My kids would pout or scream or lock themselves in; but they would always EAT! It re-assures me they're still alive! But Lovina… She values food about as much as her own life! If she doesn't eat…" Another frustrated sigh finishes her rambling. "You are a cursed Wanker, but help me take care of Lovina. Now."

After a short silence, he finally starts speaking: "Thank you for caring for Lovina so much, Miss Kirkland." The man's voice sounds similarly shaken to hers, yet less desperate but also closer to crying. Even slightly touched. "I know I'm the reason causing my daughter this pain and I think it sounds like an excuse if I say it hurts me just as much." Now his voice breaks. He continues slowly; almost whispering: "Thank you for caring for her while I can't."

Alice remembers the confusing phone call she accidentally answered the other day which makes it hard to stay murderously mad at him. Somehow, the Wanker seemed to have at least realized he was a wrong Idiot. Alice considers agreeing with him and, maybe after a week's time, allow him to talk to Lovina over the phone if the girl allows it. Or send her letters. It might help the downcast teenager to regain her spirits. Hopefully.

"Liz", the tone in his voice changes and the Englishwoman frowns in uncomfortable anticipation of what he will say now. Something is fishy. She doesn't like the uncertain but pressing sound in his voice and reminds herself she is doing this for Lovina's sake. "I know it's selfish from me to ask another favour of you."

The worry over Lovina immediately forgotten, Alice huffs angrily but swallows it and waits for him to continue. "Place your words wisely" The Englishwoman warns. He is a bloody Wanker after all. Unless this «favour» will help Lovina get better, she'll completely cut ties with him.

"It is important for Lovina and you." He tries once more. The blonde clicks her tongue and harshly inquires how her well-being would matter to him. "It does matter, Liz. It matters a lot."

xxx

Her eyes follow the reflection of her jawline. The shape of her ears. Trace along the brown locks framing her face up to the small, gravity defying curl.

Minutes slowly tick as she just stands there in a timeless place, lost with herself and her reflection: The picture of a stranger.

Eyes green and tired, she continues staring at the green orbs reflecting her own reflection. One in each iris.

"...ina" The voice only slowly sinks through to her consciousness. "Lovina?" Someone continues calling the name, then pushes the door fully open and steps inside the room; just a small reflection behind Lovina's. The other figure quietly approaches to stare at the girl's reflection next to her.

A gentle warmth starts spreading from Lovina's shoulder, pleasantly bringing her mind back to her body. Her vision shifts and focuses on the other reflection standing next to her. This time, she recognizes them both. Alice's reflection as well as her own.

Slowly, the girl blinks. As does her reflection. Though it's just a simple movement, the brunette finally realizes where she is. She looks around the room.

Lovina doesn't know what it was that brought her here. She didn't even know there was a mirror in this bedroom. Or whose room it is. A grumbling sound reminds the teenager she should eat something but the girl just knows she wouldn't be able to.

A small smile appears on Alice's face and gentle eyes meet tired ones. Two shades of green sharing understanding. Then something shadows the Englishwoman's eyes. "Lovina... I would like to take you out for a bit. Do you think you're ready to leave this place with me?"

xxx

Alice turns at an intersection and tries to remember the way the Spaniard described. Where did she place the note with the directions again? She recalls the moments after she scribbled it all down but somehow doesn't manage to recall where she put it after that. An unexpected distraction turns her interest from the road to the person sitting next to her: "Where are we going?" Finally, after almost two days of muteness, Lovina directs her words at Alice.

The blonde blinks in surprise, but answers nonetheless: "You'll see when we get there." She turns the car at the next intersection to leave the neighbourhood. She will somehow find her way.

From the corner of her eyes, Alice sees the brunette frown. "Is the bastard involved?"

The Englishwoman nods and the teenager's hand darts towards the door handle to jump out of the driving car. Alice is faster and quickly locks the doors from inside. Lovina huffs angrily, folds her arms and slouches back down in her seat.

Finally seeing the girl's reactions after talking to an empty shell for two days, the Englishwoman enjoys every dramatic and rebellious gesture of the girl. The divorced woman reminds them well from her previous encounters with the teenager and only realizes now how she missed them over the last days.

Somehow, Lovina's predictability makes Alice smile. It's as if she could sometimes read the overdramatic teenager's next actions.

"Don't worry. I won't let him approach you within one kilometre's distance until you agree with it." And, as if confirming her speculation, Lovina gives another angry huff; exactly as the Englishwoman expected she would.

Then silence falls upon them again and the adult wonders if the teenager solely spoke up on a whim or if she's ready to communicate again.

Hence she decides to try and get another reaction from the girl. "And if he dares to ignore that rule… Well, let's say I can handle knives quite well and effectively." Alice states smoothly and waits for the reaction to follow her comment.

Immediately, Lovina's head snaps towards the adult and the teenager looks beyond mortified. "Please don't." She splutters. "Don't kill him!"

Suppressing a small lough, Alice shakes her head. "Don't worry." She frowns angrily, narrowing her eyes more than necessary. "He might be a fucking liar, but he still raised you with the doting love of a guardian." Taking a sideway glance, she checks the girl's reaction. Lovina seems to relax again, but Alice continues to tease: "However, I might still consider torture."

"Alice!" Lovina almost jumps her and grabs the wheel with a desperate look on her face before she realizes the mischief in Alice's eyes. " _Dispettosa_." The teenager grumbles and turns back to stare outside the window.

This time, Alice chuckles audibly. "I didn't think I'd ever say that, but I am honestly relieved you're back to throwing curses around." She grins and enjoys the blush she can spot even from her driver's seat. Lovina is slowly turning back to her usual self. And seeing her trying hard not to is somewhat cute.

"Shut up." The girl grumbles. "I mean…" She tries to re-word what she just said, realizing she was talking rudely again. "I'm sorry…"

The Englishwoman chuckles again, tempted to tell the girl she used to curse a lot more when she was younger. –Still does today… But she feels she would work against the Wanker's education if she did.

Then again, she might as well.

And thus, Alice lets her relief over the girl's recovery take over and enjoys another quarter hour sharing hilarious stories about her past with a certain arsehole of a guardian.

 **xxx**

A/N

 **Translations**

 **Spanish:**

 _Sì_ = Yes

 _Jamón Serrano_ = dry-cured Spanish ham

 **Italian:**

 _Dispettosa_ = impertinent

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Just me:**

 **These last weeks I've been killing myself by trying to come up with a better plot about Lovina's past. And guess what? I managed! (Contrary to the old versions it's neither making me cry nor is it absolutely unrealistic. Maybe a bit, but it's good enough to make the story work :P )**

 **Thank you for your patience with me as I slooowly unfold this story. (And slowly update…) You give me the chance to get over many beginner's faults as I try to write this story.**

 **-Himawari**


	40. The initials HRE

**A/N**

 **I guess I should warn you beforehand, I will ignore a cannon fact as well as a famous and highly-likely-cannon Hetalia-theory in this chapter/story. Sorry.**

 **Also LOOOTS of flashbacks… Tried to keep it low, but can't really go without.**

 **xxx**

 **Also, "** _ **Tanti auguri di buon compleanno, anche se in ritardo, Italia!**_ **"** **(I didn't manage to update on the 17.03 *cries* So: "Late happy birthday to both Italys!" Sorry, didn't manage to update on your birthday…)**

 **xxx**

Lovina glances outside the window at the familiar gate slowly opening in front of them. She recognized the neighbourhood as soon as they entered it and her suspicion only seemed to grow since. "Is this where the bastard told you to take me?" She narrows her eyes and looks around her friend's garden, expecting to spot the Spaniard's figure hiding somewhere.

Alice might have said she wouldn't let the Bastard come close but Lovina isn't so sure about the house's occupants. They could have tricked Alice into bringing her here and allow him to hide and wait for Lovina.

"Yes, this is it. I assume you know this place already?" The car comes to a halt and before Lovina manages to open the seatbelt Alice insisted she has to wear, the door to her side is opened.

" _Sorellaaa_!" An auburn haired something jumps at the puzzled South European. It takes her some time to associate the sniffling mess colliding against her chest with Feliciana. Surprised she didn't see the girl before when they arrived, the teenager doesn't register her friend's incomprehensible blabbering.

"Feliciana…" Lovina grumps and tries to push the other girl away.

Feliciana however locks her arms around the brunette's waist and refuses to let go no matter how much the latter struggles "Nonononononononoooo!" before she continues blabbering in random languages.

Lovina feels her patience fade as her two days' worth of desire for the whole fucking to just fucking leave her alone is invaded. She does not intend to interact with anyone but Alice's old-fashioned television screen (and, well, maybe listen to one or two of Alice's stories); let alone with a super-clingy childhood friend. "Stop the fucking gibberish. I don't even understand what language you are speaking." She huffs, irritated with the sudden attack. "And stop crying like that. You're destroying my shirt."

In the meantime, Alice opened her own seatbelt and stepped out of the car to walk around it and inspect the chaotic situation on the other seat from up close. Lovina glances at her, mutely wording a "help".

The Englishwoman nods and turns to greet the house's owners. "Won't you come inside?" Elizaveta seems to understand the girl's plead and invites them inside. "Both of you." She clarifies, looking at Alice who's already about to leave again. Lovina spots the blonde shifting uncomfortably before she agrees. "Feliciana" The adult gently pulls on her child's arm to make her loosen her grip around Lovina. Then she tilts her head towards the house. "Maybe you girls can go to your room and talk things out up there."

Feliciana sniffles once more and allows Lovina some space to open her seatbelt, then clings to her again to pull her up and push her to follow inside.

xxx

Alice looks around the house as she slowly follows behind Elizaveta. When she heard about the engagement of the Hungarian with THE Roderich Edelstein, she wondered what kind of place two people who she knew to be so very different would choose as their family home.

The neighbourhood as well as the house's exterior matched the impression she had of a famous musician's home. She also expected to enter a high class apartment or museum once the doors open.

However, once she entered she found herself in a comfortable and simple family home, decorated only with the occasional bunch of wild flowers (most likely courtesy of Feliciana).

All in all nothing fancy like she imagined; it gives off the vibes of a home to return to nonetheless. The furniture does look a bit more antique and random than she expected however, but either Elizaveta or Feliciana seems to be so good in decorating they even manage to arrange a room with very different pieces of furniture to look nice and homey. It doesn't surprise her to find the heart of the living room to be a grand piano.

"Have a seat." Elizaveta invites Alice before the woman herself disappears through a door which most likely leads to the kitchen. Roderich quietly settles down on a seat and pushes his glasses up his nose then takes a newspaper and starts reading it.

Awkwardly, the Englishwoman does as she was told and slowly sits down on a comfortable couch, posture perfectly straight, eyes inconspicuously glancing at the paper hiding the musician's face. She tries to decipher the article on the back page but gives up once she realizes it's written in what's most likely German.

"Ruddy…" Holding a tablet with clattering cups, a teapot and a small cake, Elizaveta returns to the living room and gives her husband a scolding glare.

Roderich folds his newspaper down to meet her eyes and shrugs. "I thought I'd stay in the background and let you women talk whatever women tend to talk about." The wife keeps her gaze at her husband until he sighs and places the paper aside.

" _Danke_." Elizaveta hums in her beloved's mother tongue and sits down next to him, facing Alice. "Thank you for bringing Lovina over." The Hungarian starts pouring some tea and offers it to Alice. The Englishwoman accepts, still uncertain about what is going on.

"I would like to know" the blonde finally asks "How is it necessary I am here as well?"

"Now that you mention it…" The couple shares a look. "He didn't say." Roderich helps himself to some cake and places a piece on another small plate to give to their guest. The man starts eating and Alice hesitantly cuts off a bite with her fork. "But I guess he wanted you to come as well because Lovina stays with you or something."

Frowning, Alice looks from the man to his wife and back. She still doesn't understand what is going on. "So, Antonio called you?" The two nod. "I didn't know you guys were acquainted…?" The Englishwoman tries to make a connection between the Austro-Hungarian couple, Lovina and Antonio. And herself.

Finally, Elizaveta seems to realize her guest's confusion. "Alice…" She starts, frown slowly bringing her eyebrows downwards. "But you and Francis… You don't know? Even though you knew the bad friends trio since primary?" The woman in question shakes her head. "Oh. I see." Elizaveta leans back on the couch, looking thoughtful. Then she shifts forwards again, comfortably resting her arms on her knees ready to explain everything. "To make a long story short, Feliciana is… Lovina's twin."

The piece of cake in Alice's mouth decides to go down the wrong way causing the Englishwoman to cough strongly. "Excuse me?" she splutters, trying not to choke. "This doesn't make any sense." She shakes her head and looks up at the couple once she recovers. To her surprise neither of the two looks as if they were joking.

But they just need to be, because Alice remembers everything perfectly well:

Elizaveta got pregnant prior to herself. Alice met the other woman once she went to the doctor for a check-up shortly after she learned about Amelia's existence. Her baby bum was huge.

She also remembers how people (Gilbert, especially) were concerned because of the many complications the Hungarian faced during her pregnancy and everybody (Again, it was Gilbert who made the biggest fuss) was relieved to hear she had given birth. However, the woman wouldn't see anyone but her closest family members.

Which Alice COULDN'T have missed because, again, Gilbert was making the biggest drama complaining he was her blood brother and hence even closer to «Liz» than her husband and HE of all people should see the kid immediately to grace it with his AWEZOMENESS.

Then Antonio disappeared and Gilbert, by then an emotional wreck, disappeared as well to sulk for weeks.

It wasn't until Alice was in the fifth month of her own pregnancy when she met Elizaveta on a walk with two sleeping bundles in a twin pushchair. One baby blond and fair skinned; the other with slightly darker skin and hair the colour of coper.

"Impossible." Alice shakes her head again in disbelief and pokes her cake with the small fork. She looks up at Elizaveta and Roderich, trying to spot any similarities to Feliciana in their looks and behaviour. But neither their hair nor their eyes, the shape of their faces or the look in their eyes resemble the teenager as much as Lovina resembles Ant… Carriedo.

Yet, she knows it just has to be impossible.

"But what about Hans?" No matter how much she tries, the Englishwoman can't wrap her head around the revelation. It all just doesn't make sense. "Isn't HE Feliciana's twin?"

xxx

Seated on a bed and surrounded by an army of pillows and stuffed toys, Lovina finds herself lost in translation, trying to get a word of her friend's incomprehensible blabbering. Accompanied by sobs and breaks to rub away tears, Feliciana managed to mix up what sounds like four languages trying to convey her feelings.

"I still don't get it." Lovina shakes her head, slowly starting to get annoyed. Just why in the fucking hell did the Tomato-Bastard insist she came to Feli's place? If it was so she could let Feliciana's pity wash over her, the teenager swears to herself she would… Ah fuck, she'll think about what she'll do later.

Apparently, the hyper-emotional girl making a fuss over nothing Lovina could make out realizes her friend's darkening mood. Feliciana collects herself up from the ground and shuffles to her dresser to take her favourite picture over to the bed. No longer talking, the auburn haired hands the brunette the frame and waits for her to accept it even with a sceptically raised eyebrow.

"Your pregnant mum and your dad?" The teenager suggests and the other girl vigorously shakes her head. She takes the frame from Lovina's hands again and takes the picture outside. Nervously biting her lips, Feliciana turns it over and stretches the picture towards the girl sitting on the bed.

Lovina's eyes fly over the initials «H. R. E.»

"So?" She asks after staring at the curved letters for a while. Feliciana's shoulders drop and Lovina gets the feeling the girl is about to give up explaining whatever she tried to explain. Lovina watches her stand there, face and hair a horrible mess. As Feliciana's expression is about to turn even worse, the brunette starts to feel guilty and decides to try a bit harder to understand what he other girl wants to convey. "Sorry, seems I'm too stupid to get what you want to tell me." She grumbles and remembers she shouldn't snap at her friend in situations like these. "Got any other clues which might help me to understand?" Her next attempt seems to work as Feliciana's eyes light up with hope and an idea.

The auburn haired returns to the picture collection decorating her furniture. This time, the girl almost leaps at two pictures and dashes back to the bed, tossing them down in Lovina's lap enthusiastically. Then sits down wherever she managed to find space in the ocean of pillows and plushies, eyes sparkling with excitement and… worry?

Sighting, Lovina slowly takes one of the pictures and turns it. She glances back at Feliciana. The girl nods her head up and down and the brunette continues to open the frame to remove the back stand. The curved letters decorating the back are «FV» and «RL». A short note also states the picture was taken about eleven years ago.

"Oh, that's us." Lovina states as she turns it and recognizes two five-years old holding hands. She remembers the day. It was when she first met Feliciana. Though she wouldn't admit it, she had felt oddly connected to the other girl since their eyes met the first time. To her surprise, Lovina realizes the two girls really look startlingly alike. Only the colours of their hair, eyes and skin differ.

After staring at it for a while, the teenager puts the picture to the side. She feels Feliciana shaking back and forth in excitement next to her and wishes the other girl would stop. She's making her nervous and Lovina doesn't like the fact she is slowly getting excited as if something shocking will be revealed once she turns the next frame.

"R, E, H, FV?" She reads the letters aloud and an uncomfortable disappointment weights her mood down. Somehow, she'd thought something life-changing was going to happen, but it was just more letters. Releasing a sigh, Lovina turns the picture to see a happy family of four smiling at the camera. "Great. I already know that picture" She grumbles as her mood drops yet again. She didn't really need her friend to brag about her happy family after Lovina learned she was probably an orphan.

"Vee~! Lovi!" Feliciana releases a frustrated scream and drops backwards on her bed. Shocked by the sudden outburst, Lovina blinks at the girl who's growling unhappily. "Don't you get it? There's no «FV» in the first picture." The auburn haired theatrically throws her hands up in the air, her voice sounds close to despair. "Meaning there's no «Feliciana Veneciana»; there's no ME in that pic!" She bursts out in frustration, then slowly sits back up, looking apologetic for her outburst.

Lovina frowns and recognizes frustration, doubt and fear of loss in her friend's amber eyes. She recognizes the feelings. Remembers she had a similar look in her eyes just before they came here.

And it troubles her: The eye colour might be different. The expression however is the same as when she looked in the mirror.

Feliciana holds up the picture of the two girls happily beaming at the camera; the kids drunk by the joy they felt at meeting a new playmate. "I'm not in that first picture because I wasn't there. I'm not part of that first family picture, because I'm not blood-related to the family." Feli slowly lowers the picture of the two kids to stare at Lovina, amber eyes desperately pleading green eyes to understand. "I'm blood-related to you, Lovi. We're sisters." Her voice breaks as she whispers: "Twins."

xxx

„Well, yes." Roderich simply shrugs and leans back again to leave talking to his wife clearing her throat to get his attention. "Kind of."

"Alice…" Elizaveta sighs and reaches a hand over the small tea table to place on the blonde woman's knee as if trying to calm a child before she addresses a delicate subject. The Englishwoman frowns at the pale hand in confusion and slowly shifts her posture. The other woman removes her hand but keeps leaning forward to keep the distance between them short. "Lovina Romana and Feliciana Veneciana were born as twin sisters. Feli and Hans grew up as foster siblings. Almost like twins."

"In other words… Hans was a single child?" Alice tries to paraphrase at the same time as she tries if the new information makes sense with what she knows. Elizaveta nods and sighs relieved but realizes her guest doesn't believe a word she says. Alice sits with an eyebrow raised sceptically and arms folded over her chest; her legs crossed.

"You don't believe us." The Hungarian states and nods in understanding.

"I am afraid this sounds hardly believable. Hence I must insist…" Remembering the last two days just too well, the adult refuses to trust people's words just like that; especially not if it might hurt the teenager she cares about. And she will not allow anyone to mess with Lovina. Not as long as she's there. "If you intend to convince me, you'll need to try harder. Carriedo already fucked up and Lovina doesn't need another dear person to do the same." Her brows drop to a frown and she narrows her eyes to stare at the woman sitting opposite to her as she speaks her concern. The Englishwoman makes sure to keep her piercing gaze focused at the couple but allows her facial muscles to relax into a threatening fake smile. "We wouldn't want that, would we?"

Roderich shifts uncomfortably but Elizaveta returns her stare without blinking a single time. She also mirrors Alice's smile with a warmer, understanding one. The Englishwoman wonders how this motherly person could be the same person as the kid she once thought was a boy and had brawls with all the time. "We wouldn't." she assures her guest.

Content her concern was taken seriously, Alice leans back once more but keeps her arms folded as she waits for a proper explanation supported by multiple evidence.

And Elizaveta seems to have plenty of them as she gets up to reveal a similar amount of albums as Carriedo neatly lined up on a small shelf. Alice knows she has at least as many of them as well, but is still amazed by the number of folders. Similar to hers, they look old and used, as if someone continued to look at the collected pictures every night.

The brunette's finger glide over them before they stop at the end of the line and she takes out an album much smaller than the others. Elizaveta caresses the cover before she brings it over. As Alice expected, there is not a single grain of dust on it.

She frowns but takes the album in her hands and allows the Hungarian to sit down next to her. " _Hallo Kleines. Seit heute weiss ich, dass es dich gibt."_ The Englishwoman's eyes fly over the first two sentences of a letter which was carefully written on the first pages. "Hello little one." Elizaveta translates. "Today I learned about your existence." The mother's lips curl into a smile and she explains she wrote the letter, tried and failed many times to find the correct words of her husband's native language. It took her at least seven attempts until she finished the piece of writing and hid it between his favourite sheets of music.

Surprised to learn about the unexpected romantic approach to tell her husband about her pregnancy, Alice remembers how she tried to hide the ultrasonic image in a scone, burned the pastry and Francis figured it out by himself when she suddenly felt sick at the smell coming from the oven.

Quickly, she turns the pages and discovers a collection of more unfamiliar words and, most importantly, ultrasonic image. Many of them. Displaying only one foetus. Not two.

The blonde opens her mouth to say something but closes it again. The evidence is obvious, but she still refuses to believe it. Who guarantees they are really from Elizaveta?

"Go on." Elizaveta presses and slips her fingers between the pages urging her to turn them. They display more ultrasonic picture as well as pictures of the soon-to-be parents, the pregnant woman's belly growing bigger with every image; her condition on the other hand worsening. Flipping through the album, Alice spots more and more pictures of a bedridden Elizaveta, looking at the end of her strength like never before. "I had many complications." the woman states calmly as if she didn't suffer through them herself. "Roderich insisted he won't let me go through all that trouble again and therefore refused to have another kid." She sighs.

Alice swallows but can understand the man's concern. The Austrian must have suffered along with his wife and feared for her and his child's life over months.

Francis became an overprotective idiot as soon as he learned his ex-wife was pregnant and she hated how he treated her like glass. (Appreciated the admiring, excited glances he stole at her every now and then, but she wouldn't admit that) Now learning how other women suffered, she feels greatly pissed by his overreactions.

"Understandable. But how come Feliciana joined your family?" The divorced woman flips through more pages displaying both, suffering as well as deep love and concern a husband had for his wife.

Her eyes stop to rest at the biggest picture in the album so far. Elizaveta, smiling tired but extremely happy holding a small bundle in her arms. «Hans Edelstein-Héderváry» the letters on the other side display more German (?) words and numbers which Alice deciphers as his size, weight and so on. Barely 352 centimetres and not heavier than 2380 gram, he was a small child, born almost two months early.

Staring at the numbers, Alice swallows slowly and glances to look at the Hungarian. The other woman nods. "He came in the seventh month of pregnancy and it's a miracle he is alive. I was finally allowed to go home because I was feeling better and was sick of being tied to the bed. I requested we leave for our holiday home in Hungary's countryside. It was a ridiculous idea, but I insisted on it." She stops her story and shrugs her shoulders. "Unfortunately, that's when he chose to be born. I had only the neighbour farmer's wife to help me." Horrified by the simple thought of giving birth far away from any kind of healthcare, the Englishwoman claps her hand over her mouth. "I guess Hans was sick of all the hospitals as well" the Hungarian laughs and flips through to the next pages, smiling at the sight of each single picture. "It wasn't an easy time, but it was a beautiful. We had to go to a hospital in Hungary and stayed there for almost a month before I could convince Ruddy I was healthy enough to travel back."

"I see." The Englishwoman says, more for the sake of saying something. Despite trying to follow the shocking narration, she sees herself and her children in each picture. Yes. The first months were difficult even without being out in no-where. They were difficult, but no-one could ever steal her the memory of these precious moments. No-one.

Alice turns the pages once more and a new face grins at the camera. An amused laugh escapes the nostalgic blonde. Looking at the stupid grin splitting Gilbert's face in two makes her forget the troubles of her last days, months and years as she takes in his genuine happiness. He looks ridiculous, but the albino's expression, she can't deny, could make everyone smile. "Uncle Gil." Alice teases, for once feeling completely relaxed.

" _Onkel Aw-ome_ " Elizaveta agrees with a fond sound in her voice and Roderich snorts. "Happiest idiot on earth."

Even the doubting Englishwoman continues to laugh along with the Austro-Hungarian couple until she turns the page to spot the unpleasantly familiar grin of a certain Spaniard with baby Hans and her smile fades immediately. "I despise how he manages to destroy a nice moment without even being present." Grumbling, she turns the page again, hoping she won't have to look at his face any longer but fails as it's the last page with a picture.

But…Alice runs her finger along the side of the paper, recognizing it to be thicker than the other pages. She frowns as she realizes the pages are glued together.

" _Ach, stimmt."_ Her Austrian host remembers they glued the pages to keep them a secret from Feliciana and searches through his pockets until he pulls out a Swiss army knife he hands to the Englishwoman. The blonde accepts it, uncertain how to use it at first, but eventually figures it out. She chooses her preferred blade and hesitantly starts working it through the paper.

Once she manages to finish and opens the pages, she is not pleased to recognize more pictures of a certain Wanker. Two with Carriedo holding a bundle in his arms fill one page, a group picture decorates the other. One portrait shows him stupidly smiling at a sleeping baby, the second struggling with a screaming one. "Let me guess." The Englishwoman comments, the familiarity in the child's temperament slowly calming her irritation. "The screaming one is Lovina."

Elizaveta nods and Alice wonders why the Wanker would voluntarily choose the twin which promised to be more trouble.

 **xxx**

A/N

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Tanti auguri di buon compleanno, anche se in ritardo, Italia!_ Late happy birthday to you, Italy

 _Sorella_ = Sister

 **German:**

 _Danke_ = Thank you

 _Hallo Kleines_ =Hello little one

 _Seit heute weiss ich, dass es dich gibt._ = Since today I know about you being here

 _Onkel =_ Uncle

 _Ach, stimmt_ = Ah, right (I forgot)

 **Baby talk:**

 _Aw-ome_ = AWEZOOOME ;)

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Weight and Size**

2380g = 5. 25 Pounds = 83.95 Ounces

350cm = 138.58 Inches

Let's just assume Alice became familiar with these units while she was with Francis.

 **xxx**

 **Twins:**

 _ **231 Twins:**_

 **Hans = HRE = Yes, this is not a «Germany is HRE»-fanfic… ^^'**

 **I'll leave it up to you if you like this or not. But I didn't want to kill any character and I kinda preferred the Idea he was still around and Feli could meet HRE again whenever he came back home.**

 **He didn't appear so far because Hans decided he wanted to attend a boarding school. Dunno what kind of, but something fancy he chose because he wants to become someone important in the future or something. (*wink wink)**

 _ **Italy twins:**_

 **When I came up with this story I wasn't aware of the fact the two Italys are actually two/three years apart. Somehow I thought they were twins. SORRY, my fault. (And thanks to the Guest who pointed that out in the reviews I realized my mistake. However, I had already planed the whole story and therefore didn't want to change their ages.) In other words I kept it like that because, if I changed their age difference, I couldn't keep the story as it was.**

 **(SORRY to all of you who'd rather I stick to cannon/ widely spread theories)**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Yes, I updated one day late but I'm trying to keep my "Update once a week"-resolution.**

 **Writing this chapter was equally awkward and fun. Trying to understand the characters in these situations was really challenging as well! I mostly wrote about fights so far, no emotional situations like the reunion… But it was a nice challenge ^^**

 **Wait for Lovi's reaction once it sinks in… (*enter dramatic movie soundtrack or something)**

 **-Himawari**


	41. Looking equally horrible &kinda huggable

**A/N**

 **YES! I'm alive! (Sorry…for making you wait… again…)**

 **xxx**

 **\- Check out the English TRANSLATION of the second scene in the A/N ;)**

 **Simply because I love to drop in random languages whenever possible…**

 **xxx**

"And that's how Feli came to live as our daughter." Roderich finishes the crazy story only to return to his newspapers. Elizaveta coughs to remind him they still have a guest and Alice wonders just how the fuck she got mixed up with this whole situation.

For gnome's sake. She's sitting at in Elizaveta's living room while the girl her childhood rival raised is catching up with the twin she never knew she had. Who grew up with a twin brother she is not blood related to?

And there she thought HER family situation was complicated.

The more the divorced woman learns, the more she wishes she could turn back time, slam the door in Carriedo's face and ignore every attempt of his to bribe her into babysitting his daughter.

The Englishwoman just spent her Friday night and the whole of Saturday taking care of a teenager who was told everything she knew about who she is was a lie. And now, on Sunday, she had to listen to how Carriedo decided to leave to travel the world (What the fuck?! When did he come up with that plan? And why would he be such a dick and just disappear without telling his friends first?!)

When he left, the Wanker actually managed to meet a runaway Italian in labour and couldn't come up with a better plan than to bring her to his friends friend's house. Simply because he knew Elizaveta had given birth at home and the Italian woman seemed to strongly disapprove of the idea to set foot in a hospital.

What a fucking load of bullshit.

Alice asked why they didn't refuse and insisted the woman went to a hospital instead but Elizaveta just shrugged. "Language barrier. We couldn't ask her and Tonio didn't want to translate. He seemed pretty freaked out, talking about suspicious men sneaking through the streets when he was on his way to our house." The Englishwoman could have face palmed but that wasn't even the weirdest part of the fucked up story.

In the end the woman actually gave birth in this very house and barely survived it. –What a surprise.

Elizaveta ignored Alice's sarcastic tone in the comment and continued the story. "I am quite confident in my nursing skills." She states.

So they tucked her and the twins in and the next morning the woman was gone, leaving only a note begging them to let her kids grow up like any normal girl.

Carriedo and Gilbert tried searching for her, leaving the twins in the care of Elizaveta and Roderich. They reported about more men with expensive suits and hidden guns but no runaway mother until the newspaper published about a hiker who discovered a woman's body. "Antonio however refused to believe the story and insisted the woman in the picture was not the same as the one he helped."

"Bloody hell. What a horrible mother!" Alice doesn't care to sugar-coat her words and swears anymore. She feels pissed and she might as well show it. "So Carriedo's fucking random attempts to make the world a brighter place just so happened to occur when he picked up a runaway mafia-bride." She rolls her eyes. "Almost as splendidly heroic as Troll shit." Ignoring the couple gaping at her with shocked faces for her choice of words, the blonde decides she won't continue this any longer and rises from the couch. "This is the most fucked-up thing I've ever heard. And I don't think I can take in any more crap than this."

She turns to leave and accidentally knocks her teacup over. The half-finished beverage splashes over the third picture and Elizaveta jumps up to wipe it clean with her skirt. For an irritated second, Alice watches her dirty her clothes for the sake of an old picture. And for another two seconds, her eyes rest on the bundle in Carriedo's hands.

Small.

So small and innocent. But thrown into a shitty life just like that.

And she wonders why Carriedo chose Lovina.

A small, crying bundle. Abandoned by her own mother.

How could she.

Why did he.

"That woman might have made a lot of bad choices. But she protected her kids and made sure they would grow up far away from the world she herself couldn't escape from." Roderich finally speaks up and takes the album from his wife's busy hands. "Let's put it on the windowsill to dry completely." The Hungarian tries to interfere but her husband shakes his head. "Feli knows now. So it's ok if she sees it." He stops, gazing at the picture and his lips display a small smile. "She has to see it."

Elizaveta nods mechanically, still staring at the album and drops on the couch next to where Alice sat. "Liz…" She starts and the blonde freezes at the mention of the nickname she didn't use in ages. "Those might have been some surprisingly harsh words you used. However…" And now she grabs the other woman's hand to pull her to sit back down next to her. "You are a mother, just like me. A mother just like her. This girl ran away to protect her babies. And once she finally found a place with people she felt she could trust, she knew she couldn't stay or the kids would be found." Though she doesn't want to, Alice has to admit she can understand the other woman's reasoning. But frowns as she continues. "Tonio knew that to, but he could only take care of one child by himself. And I…" Elizaveta stops to blink a few tears back. "I knew Ruddy wouldn't let me go through another pregnancy. But I grew up with many siblings and couldn't imagine raising a single child."

The Englishwoman, tired of listening, finishes the sentence with her own words: "So you bent the law, deceived the authorities and registered not one baby but two?" She sums up.

"Actually, it was Gilbert's idea…" the brunette starts but is interrupted by a shout and a loud thud from upstairs. Both women whirl around to stare at the stairs.

xxx

Sitting on the bed, Lovina watches as the mirror image of herself sitting with legs crossed like her, bends over in anticipation of her reaction. The brunette frowns at the auburn haired girl, hair all messed up again and repeats the thought in her head. Twins? So… Siblings? Born on the same day in the same year.

Twins… Who is? The two of them? " _Gemelle_." Lovina asks for clarification, blinking as if her friend just tried to speak Japanese.

" _Sí_." Feliciana agrees relieved and starts slightly bouncing up and down as if to hold back her joy.

Lovina on the other hand still sits on the bed as if frozen, trying to process the information. " _Noi siami gemelle_?" The brunette asks if she heard her right again, still uncertain what to do with the explanation they were twins and stares at the other girl sitting in front of her like her reflection in a mirror.

" _Sí!"_ The other girl agrees again and her voice almost bubbles over at the mention of the single word. _"Tu sei la mia sorella! La mia sorallona."_ Feliciana succumbs to the excitement and her voice turns into a squeak as she declares them to be sisters. Lovina, apparently the older twin gawks at her in silenced shock.

The brunette could curse a thousand curses right now, trying to ease her confusion but something inside tells her not to. Alice's comment about her throwing curses around again reminds the teenager to watch her words just this once. And the girl has to agree the Englishwoman was right when she said Lovina curses a lot more than necessary.

Looking at her friend (Sister?) with that her huge, face-splitting grin and super sparkly eyes like a fucking disco ball, she realizes even a single curse could destroy Feliciana's mood. Still, she needs to… somehow process the unbelievable, unrealistic and incomprehensible. Which is unsurprisingly difficult if your mind stops working. " _Sei sicuro?"_ She's just still to fucking confused to think so the brunette stupidly asks if the other girl is certain about that guess instead. As if asking her for clarification once more would help Lovina's brain to understand this bullshit soap-opera plot which apparently is her life.

Feliciana excitedly nods her head. " _Cento per cento_!" Fidgeting with her hands, she reassures she is a hundred percent sure. " _Prova a chiedere a zio Tonio_!" Feliciana suggests Lovina asks the Tomato Bastard herself.

The brunette shakes her head. " _No voi."_ She folds her arms and turns to the side. Looking at Feliciana right now... It is all just too much.

"Ve~ But why?" She feels Feliciana bouncing up and down next to her, hears the confused «Vee»'s and registers the hand the girl places on her shoulder as the auburn haired girl inquires if the brunette is all right.

Auburn and brown. Amber and green. Friendly and unsocial. Happy and Grumpy. Yes, the She-Bastard might be annoying and dim-witted, but her description is uncomfortably accurate.

Slowly, the teenager tilts her head to the side and reaches for the picture to stare at the kids it portrays.

They are polar opposites. Yet their similarities are so obvious it's ridiculous they didn't realize it before.

Twins. Blood related siblings.

Staring at the picture, Lovina feels her heartbeat grow faster. She realizes the thumping in her veins, before the fact sinks in.

She has a sister. A little sister. _Una sorellina_.

Opening her mouth to say something, Lovina finds herself unable to speak. Forming words… or even sentences for what she tries to put into words is too difficult as languages, curses and nice words come to mind all mixed up in one sentence. Every attempt to make sense of the chaos fails before she can even start speaking. Then there is the distracting realisation her palms just decided to become all sweaty.

Ignorant of the mess going on in Lovina's head, Feliciana just sits there, expectantly waiting for her friend/ sister to answer. The girl just stupidly-cutely tilts her head and blinks at her friend with her amber eyes as if Lovina isn't facing a fucking life-or-dead situation! Because, the way the brunette's heart keeps racing, she might just get a heart attack or something. Or get a serious condition afterwards because it doesn't seem willing to calm down and her thoughts race just as fast.

Then, one single question makes it all stop.

Sudden panic freezes her limbs and it is as if her heart stops beating at all for a moment. This is it, Lovina realizes and waits for the heart attack to strike and erase her small existence from this world before she has to face the darkness of reality.

Unfortunately, it doesn't happen and hence the girl still faces the same nagging thought. The same cold, cold fear. The emptiness she's got so familiar with over the last two days.

"Did…" She struggles for words which refuse to leave her lips. "Did you… know?" Her voice fades in a whisper as the brunette glances up at the auburn haired girl as silence follows. Waiting for her friend… sister to talk, Lovina keeps staring at Feliciana as the girl casts her eyes down, swallows and remains quiet. " _Lo vedo."_

Unexpectedly calm, the South European shifts and raises from the bed, the picture slides off her lap and drops to the floor. "Lovi _, io_ …" She ignores the other girl's shaking voice and walks for the door. The teenager turns to take another glance at the younger girl sitting surrounded by colourful stuffed toys and pillows, tears glittering in her eyes. Surprisingly, Lovina feels nothing at the sight. Doesn't allow herself to feel anything.

In the corner of her eyes she registers Feliciana leaping on her feet to chase after her but doesn't so much as care. She heads towards the door but is stopped as the other girl grabs her arm, whining her name and begging her to listen. " _Lasciarmi_." The brunette growls and yanks her arm away. Feli starts crying, Lovina first hears her sobs then sees the drops roll down her cheeks as she stretches her hand out again. The auburn haired girl's finger tips touch the brunette's arm and Lovina snaps: " _LASCIARMI_!" she screams at the top of her lungs and collides with the chest of drawers on her way to storm out of the door.

Leaving the room filled with memories, laughter and childhood games of two kids living in a make-believe world.

 **xxx**

"What was…" Alice's eyes find the stairs where Lovina follower her sister(?) to her room.

"I'll go take a look" Roderich gently places a re-affirming hand on Elizaveta's shoulder and tells her to leave it up to him. Then he disappears off towards the stairs.

Irritated, Alice stares at the woman sitting next to her as if she were insane. The blonde is shocked to see a thankful and calm expression in the mother's eyes. "Why…" The divorced woman begins, surprised the brunette wouldn't follow her husband to check what he does and make sure it turns out all right; but swallows the question. Elizaveta's eyes shift and focus on the blonde's face. "You… let him take care of it by himself?" Though she tries to reword her question, Alice realizes it still sounds disapproving of the other woman's calmness.

"Of course" Blinking confused, Elizaveta tries to understand the question about something Alice realizes seems to be natural for the Hungarian. Then understanding appears in Elizaveta's expression and she gently pats the divorced woman's leg. "I trust Ruddy."

Astounded of the Hungarian's words, the Englishwoman wonders if they are talking about the same person. As far as she knows the Austrian, he is famous for many things but not for taking part in conflicts and even less to meddle with them. And, knowing Lovina's outbursts, conflict is most likely what caused that noise they heard.

They hear voices talking upstairs. Calm voices.

Elizaveta grins at Alice with one of these grins which indicates there is more to their words than what they say. "He might not be the type to take care of a conflict, but I trust my husband." She empathizes the «husband» part and Alice uncomfortably shifts, trying to break eye contact. She never really trusted Francis to take care of many situations by himself, but hearing another person point out her distrust in her ex-husband feels uncomfortable. As if she were in the wrong about it. "We raised Feli together and he's known Lovi for a long time, so it will turn out well."

The divorced woman suppresses to grumble a «lucky you». She turns towards the stairs again, hoping the conversation is over.

"And" Elizaveta manages to turn the Englishwoman's attention towards her again, smug grin on her lips. "Contrary to what YOU seem to believe, Tonio doesn't have random moments where he is nice to people. He's a generally nice and gentle hearted person who just messes up acting like one in front of you."

Alice snorts and shakes her head in disbelief, gladly using the excuse to break eye contact with the Hungarian.

Elizaveta might be right about her and Francis, but not about Carriedo. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but your point of view is the opposite or reality." She groans. Truly FAR from reality. "He IS a damned Wanker with a split personality. He's just so good at hiding it he manages to fool everyone."

Almost everyone. Everyone minus the few which care enough to look beyond his mask. Or the unfortunate ones he shows his other sides as well.

"I doubt that. And I doubt even you know him as well as you're letting on, or do you just refuse to see the obvious?" Elizaveta smiles and Alice shrugs her shoulders. She doesn't really care if people don't realize there is more to the tan brunette than his happy smiles. He fools almost everyone, including himself sometimes. That's just how good of an actor he is. But Alice knows him for too long to fall for it.

Yet… even the Englishwoman couldn't say she actually understands the Spanish Wanker.

With all of his multiple layers between «happy dork» and «fucked up criminal», Alice never seems to be able to quite grasp him. Though she's known him for decades, he always manages to irritate her with unexpected behaviour, gestures or comments not even his sworn childhood-rival could foresee.

"Wasn't he Roderich's roommate back in high school?" Shaking her head in disbelief, the Englishwoman tries another attempt to finish the topic and make the Hungarian realize her misconception. "HE of all people should know Carriedo is far from the happy-clappy idiot he appears to be."

But Elizaveta's distant smile confirms the Hungarian is a lost case. "Yes, he was…" she giggles and Alice feels shivers run down her spine. What's with that reaction? Just WHAT did Carriedo do? "He played cupid for Ruddy and myself." The brunette hums and her blonde guest decides this was the last time she inquired about Carriedo's past.

xxx

"We're leaving." Lovina calls towards the living room as soon as she managed to get past annoying people trying to calm her or talk to her or whatever shit they wanted.

It doesn't matter anyways.

It all doesn't matter.

Her feet stop only once they face the front door and the teenager continues to blankly stare at the wood. She waits for the familiar footsteps to follow after her.

She knows Alice is speaking to her. Probably talking her into something, trying to calm her, or whatever. But the brunette simply stretches out her hand to open the door but Alice is faster. Displeased, Lovina glares at the slim finger with the perfect nails quickly turning the key in the lock and taking it into her hands to throw it towards the house's owner.

"We're leaving." Lovina calmly repeats and slightly turns her head. Then she continues to stare at the door and shakes the hand Alice places on her shoulders off. She folds her arms and continues to stare at the door.

Should she just grab the Englishwoman's bag and exit through a window? She CAN drive a car after all.

"Lovina." She registers Alice calling her but ignores her. "Lovina." The blonde tries again and is flat out ignored. Because there is no reason for her to listen to Alice. There is nothing to listen to. Nothing to talk about.

Instead, the teenager analyses the wooden door and starts counting the tree-rings. There's many of them and she eventually loses count. Starts from _uno_ again and continues counting. Maybe she won't reach _cento_ before the Englishwoman gives up and opens the door again to drive her back?

"Lovina." The later grumbles. Then something loud explodes behind Lovina and the girl DOES NOT shriek.

Nah. Just curse. "WHAT the actual FUCK?!" the teenager whirls around to stare at the Englishwoman through a purple glittery cloud slowly disappearing into nothing. Once it's all gone, Lovina continues to stare at the empty space between herself and the Englishwoman, wondering what just happened.

"I grew up with three older brothers." Alice calmly states and shakes her hand, opens and closes it again and looks at it. "Had to learn to get people to listen to me." She explains with her familiar factual way of speaking even though Lovina doesn't get a word she says.

The teenager shakes her head and decides her imagination just run wild due to lack of sleep. Sleep she intends to get soon. Escape all this shit and go to sleep. "So… We're leaving now?"

"No. You're staying with your sister." The blonde sighs. She immediately lifts her hand to stop Lovina before she can even start complaining and continues: "As I just said, MY brothers are the worst kinds of bastards. Well, as far as my experiences go, family sucks and is a pain in the arse most of the time." Alice calmly brushes some invisible dust of her knuckles and relaxes her arm to rest at her side. "Even so. It's still worth a try. And that girl-" Alice gestures behind herself by tilting her head. "Unlike my brothers- Seems to actually care about her sister. You should give her a chance. Don't miss your chance to make up with your real family just because the man who raised you fucked up big time."

Lovina narrows her eyes.

Because the last person she wants to think about right now is mentioned, the slight possibility the teenager might have listened to the blonde adult sinks down to zero and the teenager folds her arms to demonstrate her displeasure. "Yeah. And next thing you're going to talk me into is to make up with the Tomato _Bastardo_?" Lovina grumbles.

She's had enough of all this shit and she most certainly doesn't need Alice to take their side as well. Lovina just REALLY wants to go lie down and sleep. Sleep and forget it all.

The Englishwoman clicks her tongue. "After he comes crawling on all his fours I might consider to think about considering listening to how he plans to fix this situation." Her voice turning unfamiliarly hostile with every word, Alice finishes her statement with a growled: "Maybe." Then she shrugs her shoulders and repeats; with her normal voice again: "You go and take care of your sister. Don't waste your time thinking about the Wanker."

Lovina releases a breath she didn't know she was holding and watches the blonde turning to head back to the living-room. The teenager doesn't move even though she understood Alice won't change her mind concerning catching up with her sister. She continues standing in the hallway without moving but her eyes begin to wander towards the girl intently staring at her with teary, begging and unsecure eyes.

Sisters.

Twin sisters.

…

Looking at the other girl, Lovina still doesn't know what to do with the new information and decides it's too difficult to think about it as well.

She just wants to go to bed and get some sleep. And think about it all tomorrow. "I'm tired. Le'mme stay over." Lovina yawns and shuffles closer to Feliciana to give her a once over.

The slightly younger girl glances at her through wet eyes with uncertainty and what she recognizes to be Feliciana's «I wanna hug you» face. Then she realizes the messy hair, the hands glenched around the hem of her shirt and the fingers digging in her palms. Feet nervously rubbing against each other.

She looks horrible. Worse than Lovina even. Or maybe… The brunette has to suppress a snort as she wonders if they look equally horrible, alike even in a moment like this.

Alike like twins.

And somewhat huggable.

xxx

Alice fondly watches as Lovina finally gives in and slowly opens her arms, sighing "Com'ere already." Feliciana's face lights up as her sister's blushes and leaps to embrace the slightly older girl. Lovina stands awkward at first, unsure where to place her arms with Feliciana so closely cuddling up to her and looks around for a bit, arms awkwardly frozen in mid-air. The brunette's eyes stop on her sister's messy auburn mop and she places one hand on it. Pats Feliciana's head slowly then stops, looking at it with a displeased frown before she sighs, rolls her eyes and brings her second hand up to tousle it into a splendid mess.

The Englishwoman coughs to suppress a chuckle as Feliciana squeaks and starts spluttering in confusion. Lovina grumbles in return and frowns at her little sister blinking up at her through curved eyelashes. The younger girl blushes and splutters in their own language, pouting before she nuzzles back in the embrace, leaving her older sister at the same uncomfortable position of not knowing what to do with her hands NOW. Finally, the older girl sighs and places one around her sister's shoulders and the other back to her hair to brush through it. Busy with disentangling the mess she caused, Lovina runs her fingers through Feliciana's hair. Every time she pulls a bit too strongly to loosen a knot and the auburn haired girl winces under her fingers, she mutters to her in Italian to soothe the girl.

Slowly, the flustered expression softens and Alice can't help but stare at the two re-united sisters, feeling an unfamiliar longing rise in her. She never had a sister and seeing even her new friend's grumpy expression slowly changing to a warm smile… Their eyes meet.

Lovina's smile disappears immediately and her cheeks flush a deep red. She scowls at the woman watching her intimate moment to confirm the Englishwoman turns to go help Elizaveta with… something…

The blonde looks for the Austro-Hungarian couple and finds them holding hands and whispering to one another as they watch the two girls.

Rather than helping with something, the divorced woman knows it's time for her to leave now. She waves at Lovina and the teenager nods a good bye. Then the Englishwoman turns towards the door, leaving the family to have some time for themselves and returns to her own home.

Time to sort out her thoughts about everything she learned today.

xxx

 **A/N**

 **Translations**

 **2\. scene (Italian)s:**

Sitting on the bed, Lovina watches as the mirror image of herself sitting with legs crossed like her, bends over in anticipation of her reaction. The brunette frowns at the auburn haired girl, hair all messed up again and repeats the thought in her head. Twins? So… Siblings? Born on the same day in the same year.

Twins… Who is? The two of them? " _Twins_." Lovina asks for clarification, blinking as if her friend just tried to speak Japanese.

" _Yes_." Feliciana agrees relieved and starts slightly bouncing up and down as if to hold back her joy.

Lovina on the other hand still sits on the bed as if frozen, trying to process the information. " _We are twins_?" The brunette asks if she heard her right again, still uncertain what to do with the explanation they were twins and stares at the other girl sitting in front of her like her reflection in a mirror.

" _Yes!"_ The other girl agrees again and her voice almost bubbles over at the mention of the single word. _"You are my sister! My big sister."_ Feliciana succumbs to the excitement and her voice turns into a squeak as she declares them to be sisters. Lovina, apparently the older twin gawks at her in silenced shock.

The brunette could curse a thousand curses right now, trying to ease her confusion but something inside tells her not to. Alice's comment about her throwing curses around again reminds the teenager to watch her words just this once. And the girl has to agree the Englishwoman was right when she said Lovina curses a lot more than necessary.

Looking at her friend (Sister?) with that her huge, face-splitting grin and super sparkly eyes like a fucking disco ball, she realizes even a single curse could destroy Feliciana's mood. Still, she needs to… somehow process the unbelievable, unrealistic and incomprehensible. Which is unsurprisingly difficult if your mind stops working. " _Are you sure?"_ She's just still to fucking confused to think so the brunette stupidly asks if the other girl is certain about that guess instead. As if asking her for clarification once more would help Lovina's brain to understand this bullshit soap-opera plot which apparently is her life.

Feliciana excitedly nods her head. " _One hundred percent_!" Fidgeting with her hands, she reassures she is a hundred percent sure. " _Just_ a _sk uncle Tonio_!" Feliciana suggests Lovina asks the Tomato Bastard herself.

The brunette shakes her head. " _Don't wanna."_ She folds her arms and turns to the side. Looking at Feliciana right now... It is all just too much.

"Ve~ But why?" She feels Feliciana bouncing up and down next to her, hears the confused «Vee»'s and registers the hand the girl places on her shoulder as the auburn haired girl inquires if the brunette is all right.

Auburn and brown. Amber and green. Friendly and unsocial. Happy and Grumpy. Yes, the She-Bastard might be annoying and dim-witted, but her description is uncomfortably accurate.

Slowly, the teenager tilts her head to the side and reaches for the picture to stare at the kids it portrays.

They are polar opposites. Yet their similarities are so obvious it's ridiculous they didn't realize it before.

Twins. Blood related siblings.

Staring at the picture, Lovina feels her heartbeat grow faster. She realizes the thumping in her veins, before the fact sinks in.

She has a sister. A little sister. _A little sister_.

Opening her mouth to say something, Lovina finds herself unable to speak. Forming words… or even sentences for what she tries to put into words is too difficult as languages, curses and nice words slur every attempt to make sense of them before she can even start speaking. Then there is the distracting realisation her palms just decided to become all sweaty.

Ignorant of the mess going on in Lovina's head, Feliciana just sits there, expectantly waiting for her friend/ sister to answer. The girl just stupidly-cutely tilts her head and blinks at her friend with her amber eyes as if Lovina didn't face a fucking life-or-dead situation right now! Because, the way the brunette's heart keeps racing, she might just get a heart attack or something. Or get a serious condition afterwards because it doesn't seem willing to calm down and her thoughts race just as fast.

Then, one single thought makes it all stop.

Sudden panic freezes her limbs and it is as if her heart stops beating at all for a moment. This is it, Lovina realizes and waits for the heart attack to strike and erase her small existence from this world before she has to face the darkness of reality.

Unfortunately, it doesn't happen and hence the girl still faces the same nagging thought. The same cold, cold fear. The emptiness she's got so familiar with over the last two days.

"Did…" She struggles for words which refuse to leave her lips. "Did you… know?" Her voice fades in a whisper as the brunette glances up at the auburn haired girl as silence follows. Waiting for her friend… sister to talk, Lovina keeps staring at Feliciana as the girl casts her eyes down, swallows and remains quiet. " _I see."_

Unexpectedly calm, the South European shifts and raises from the bed, the picture slides off her lap and drops to the floor. "Lovi _, I_ …" She ignores the other girl's shaking voice and walks for the door. The teenager turns to take another glance at the younger girl sitting surrounded by colourful stuffed toys and pillows, tears glittering in her eyes. Surprisingly, Lovina feels nothing at the sight. Doesn't allow herself to feel anything.

In the corner of her eyes she registers Feliciana leaping on her feet to chase after her but doesn't so much as care. She heads towards the door but is stopped as the other girl grabs her arm, whining her name and begging her to listen. " _Leave me alone_." The brunette growls and yanks her arm away. Feli starts crying, Lovina first hears her sobs then sees the drops roll down her cheeks as she stretches her hand out again. The auburn haired girl's finger tips touch the brunette's arm and Lovina snaps: " _Piss off_!" she screams at the top of her lungs and collides with the chest of drawers on her way to storm out of the door.

Leaving the room filled with memories, laughter and childhood games of two kids living in a make-believe world.

 **Italian:**

 _Sorella_ = Sister

 _uno_ = one

 _cento_ = one hundred

 _Bastardo_ = bastard

 **German:**

 _Danke_ = Thank you

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Papers…:**

 **Uncle Google told me how many days after a child's birth a parent can register… It's 42 days in the UK and of course that's not enough time to cover the 43 days between HRE's and Italy's birthdays PLUS the time before AusHun decided to take care of Feli.**

 **In other words, I bent the facts a lot in this and the last chapter anyways. So I'll just do it once more.**

 **xxx**

 **Carriedo:**

 **Sorry if descriptions about him are too OOC. It's because Alice (tries) to see him in bad light due to their shared past.**

 **I see him as a very interesting character with more layers than his famous sunny personality and I try to portray him as such.**


	42. Literally beaming

Feli slowly opens her eyes as the birds' songs wake her up. For a few moments she tiredly glances at Lovina's silhouette before memories of yesterday's events dawn to her.

After years of knowing the other girl, her best friend just turned out to be her sister. Feliciana «Vee's» happily. Her eyes slowly trace the well-known features of her big sister's sleeping face. Her dark brown hair; the single strains' different shades and the way the waves fall over her neck on the pillow. Long eye lashes hiding green orbs just a bit too distant towards most people but lighting up the slightest bit when looking at her.

A look Feliciana dearly loves. A small spark in these eyes; a hidden warmth making her feel loved.

The teenager's mind drifts off to when they met for the first… second time. It was just after she learned she was adopted when she turned five.

The little girl had been happy to learn she had two Mama's and two Papa's. But with time she realized what it actually meant.

But now… Now is different. Now; RIGHT now, she can stare at the face of her sister sleeping next to her. And somehow even her usually busy mind relaxes at the sight.

 _Familia_. She has one. A real one.

A _Sorellona_.

Feliciana watches her sister sleep and listens to the birds and the wind rustling in the leaves. A small birdie floats down to sit at the windowsill and sings a «good morning». So cute.

The teenager's focus shifts back to her sister and she watches Lovina's brown eyebrows twitch with fascination as her eyelids slowly open. " _Buongiorno_." The auburn haired girl singsongs and laughs when the brown haired teen startles awake and sits up straight. Then growls and rubs the sleep from her eyes.

"The heck you're sticking so close to me, Felician…" Her head snaps to the side and Feliciana giggles at the complex expression on her _Sorellona's_ face. "Oh fucking shit…" Lovina turns to grumble and collect herself.

The younger girl sits up as well and begins to stretch her limbs. She never really has trouble sleeping but this morning is different; she slept so well she almost feels reborn. " _Voi manga qualcosa_?" The Italian invites her _Sorellona_ for breakfast and gets up to start searching through her dresser for something to wear. Accidentally, she takes a glance at her reflection in the mirror located over her chest of drawers and mutters a shocked: "Vee, I really look horrible."

Breakfast's gotta wait. Shower first.

"Hey…" Her sister tries to get the busy teenager's attention and the latter turns around. Only to find Lovina looking even more confused. "Breakfast?! No shit. Sure… You DO remember what we learned yesterday, right?"

Feliciana blinks in surprise. " _Sì_ " then tilts her head. "Why?" She starts looking for a matching pair of socks.

"…" Lovina continues staring at her for some time then shakes her head and drops backwards to snuggle under the covers once again. "Nevermind."

And yet Feliciana somehow understands what Lovina means. She turns to find the other girl hiding under her blanket; most likely to sulk. Feliciana puts the socks back in the drawers and; without closing it tiptoes back to the bundle. She leans down to softly poke it and waits for a reaction. As nothing happens, she pokes again and waits for a grumbling answer then squats down in front of the mattress. With a rustling sound, the figure wrapped in the blanked shifts to glare at her; face partly hidden. " _Sei sì bellima."_

"'m not cute." The brunette grumbles a reply. "'s just too comfortable…"

"Then how about I prepare something and bring it upstairs so we can have breakfast on bed? And shower after?" Feliciana suggests. Lovina shifts again and the blanket hiding her face is revealed; sly grin back on her lips, the older girl hums in agreement, tempted to lower her defences by the promise of food. Then turns and nestles down. Contently watching, Feliciana can't wait to try something. "I'll be back in a few minutes, _Sorellona_." she chants.

" _Sore_ …" Lovina starts spluttering and Feliciana decides to keep the memory of her new found sister's dark red blushed face in her heart.

She can't wait to experience many more memorable moments. Like this breakfast; for example.

She'll first brew some coffee.

xxx

She needs freshly brewed cup of tea. As soon as possible.

Alice unlocks the door to the office and stumbles inside. She hardly slept the last three days and she feels exactly as one would expect. Horrible.

After spending the whole weekend taking care of Lovina, Alice couldn't help but watch the two teenagers trying to make up all the time they lost yesterday. Somehow, she didn't want to leave. The divorced woman found herself somewhere between sharing their joy and just seriously wanting to kill Carriedo for denying this connection to the two teenage girls.

And for what purpose? His own selfishness, as the Wanker even admitted himself.

A contradiction to how he knowingly chose Lovina; acting like a selfless person, trading his dreams for raising a kid that wasn't even his.

Alice places her bag on her desk in the empty office and switches the computer on. The screen displays five thirty-two; about one and a half hour before her official shift starts. Her eyes glance to the stack of work sitting on her desk as tall as when she left it on Friday. She sighs. Curses under her breath and starts sorting through the papers.

It's all a certain Spaniard's fault she couldn't concentrate on her work before the weekend; and it's the same Git's fault she didn't get a wink of sleep yesterday and now feels like she pulled a week of all-nighters just after said weekend ends.

Babysitting a depressed teenager was a task which always left her drained of energy but some part of her didn't want to leave when Elizaveta offered the girl to stay over at her twin's place for the night.

In the end she still went home; feeling out of place and spent the last hours of the day in the company of her thoughts circling around the mystery what motivated Carriedo to take care of Lovina.

Alice sighs.

Just as the Englishwoman sits down, she hears the door slide open and a confused "Alice? What are you doing here?" greets her. The blonde waves a simple good morning at her boss and turns back to her documents.

"Couldn't sleep because I was angry at a certain Wanker." She grumbles and Luca laughs a dry laugh.

"Angry?" She inquires with a sarcastic ring to her usually toneless voice. "You mean: bloodthirsty. I had to host a swarm of fairies which fled from your place." She corrects flatly and passes the Englishwoman. "Blond or brunette Wanker?" Luca stops to ask her.

Rolling her eyes, Alice growls: "Brown haired, brown tanned and green eyed." Luca nods in understanding and turns for her desk.

Alice raises an eyebrow as her friend slouches down on her chair as well and starts massaging her shoulders. The action reminds the blonde of her own tense muscles and she winces. Great. Lack of sleep and muscle tension on a Monday. Seeing her boss in an equally awful mood, Alice doesn't even want to think of the week which awaits her.

"What about you? You're not really all sunshine either."

The Norwegian huffs in irritation. "Blonde _Dust_ in my case. I had to listen to her drunk ramblings. Because her boyfriend went sailing in Spain or something. I left at sunrise because I didn't want to hear any more of Martina's complaints." Frowning, Alice inquires since when the relationship was official. "It's not. That's exactly the problem."

The blonde Norwegian places a paper bag on her desk and slowly starts unpacking her breakfast-to-go. She finds some more of the Dutch sweets in the bag, frowns and throws them in the bin under her desk. Alice uses the distraction to go and prepare a breakfast tea for herself.

She blankly stares at the kettle, waiting for the water to reach the perfect temperature and tries to remember the last time she met Martina. The headmaster of her daughter's school didn't appear to act any different than she normally does. Just her loud, annoying self, messing with other people's business.

It's kind of hard to imagine Tim going on a holiday would throw her off balance. With a frown, the Englishwoman figures there's got to be more about it but decides to wonder about it another time. She's got other things to worry about.

xxx

For some time she simply stares at the ceiling she knows so well.

Lovina doesn't know how, but somehow Feliciana even managed to stick pictures up there. Most of them were taken recently and the teenager assumes her friend… sister didn't want to put any of the older ones away and hence just needed some space to put the new ones. So she just chose to put them up there.

After staring at the girl smiling next to different people she called her friends; unfortunately also the Potato _Bastardo_ and similarly annoying people. And the She-Bastard. And… In quite a number of the carefully arranged pictures Lovina recognizes her own features.

Her usual scowl framed by brown locks strongly contrast her sister's warm-hearted expression in some pictures. She remembers exactly on which occasions these were taken. Feliciana invited them over, made a fuss and insisted they took a picture because her hairdo looked so cute. Or because it was her birthday. Or because the light fell through the window beautifully and it would make for a perfect picture.

Slight guilt starts to make her shift uncomfortably under the warm blankets. Sure, she isn't a person to walk around smiling like a stupid idiot all the time. But seeing how most of her friend's pictures portrayed her with this refusing expression bothered her.

Sister. Actually.

Then her attention is drawn towards the other pictures. The ones she doesn't know when they were taken. And they looked quite… different. There's one which displays the two girls fighting over the last piece of pizza. And one where they stuff each other's faces with _gelato_. Lovina chuckles. Feliciana wanted to try Lovina's chosen flavours too, but the silly girl would only take a small lick. As if you could really taste it like that. Oh, and she remembers the picture when Feli tripped over and Lovina tried to catch her. Or was it the other way round? It ended in a splendid mess nonetheless and, of fucking course the Tomato Bastard had to take a picture.

All of a sudden, Lovina's mood turns sour. Fuck. She didn't want to think about…

"Oh, and remember when we met for our annual Mario-competition?" Feliciana's comforting sunny voice makes the unhappy thoughts stop.

"Fuck yeah. I mean… Sure…" The brunette corrects herself and a confused «Vee» answers her.

The annoying thoughts return.

Slowly tugging at the blanket, Feliciana tries to get her sister's attention and places a tray on her nightstand before she fights for some space in the bed. "Something bothering you?" The younger twin follows her sister's empty stare to look at the picture and giggles once she recognizes it. "Who fell first? I don't remember. But I'm kinda glad _Zio_ Tonio took the pic… Oh." She stops mid-sentence to look at the brunette next to her. " _Scusa_ …" She mutters. Then Lovina feels her friend's arms wrap around her slumped shoulders.

She realizes the warmth melt away her worries as she slowly lets herself relax in her sister's embrace.

xxx

After a great good-morning chat with a few folks on the way to her classroom, Amelia drops her bag on a random desk in the centre of the classroom and groans once she realizes WHY she's got so much baggage today.

She spent the weekend at her dad's because she was worried about her brother.

Amelia doesn't remember how many times she tried to get Mattie to talk. Tried and failed because he'd always just shrug it off, say it's nothing and change the topic.

And heck, he was good at that! The blonde feels like she didn't get the opportunity to talk this much about her favorite movies, her latest discoveries, Toni and this new Whale watching tour she wants to go since… Well, most likely since the last time Mattie tried to avoid a topic. He just knows her too well. And he just knows exactly how to make her talk instead of having to talk himself as well.

Shit.

Now it's Monday and Mattie's most likely back in background-fading mode. It'll be difficult to find him.

"You're late." Someone smacks Amelia up her head and she recognizes her uncle's red hair in the corner of her eyes. "Finish unpacking already. Headmaster's gotta talk to you guys." The teenager notes how he tries to keep his accent at bay and realizes it's gotta be some serious shit so she quickly puts her bag down and slumps on the chair.

" _God morgen_." Amelia recognizes the easy-going headmaster who helped her out with proofing to Grumpy there WAS something weird going on between Tonio and her mother. … Though she herself doesn't really know what she should think about it… "So. City's authorities ordered me to inform you folks…"

Seeing how Martina herself looks really out of it and doesn't seem interested in warning her students suspicious people were spot and they should take care; not go home by themselves and not talk to strangers and so on, the teenager's thoughts drift off.

Mattie's not talking and her Mother might start a relationship. Though she still doubts HER MOTHER would go out with anyone; even someone as easy-going as Tonio. 'Cause Amelia's known the man since she was maybe five years old, the teenager tries to go through the pros and cons of him hooking up with the old lady.

So… Thinking about Tonio. He's cheerful and easy-going. A great cook. When they were smaller, he would play hide-and-seek with herself and Mattie and Grumpy all the time. Matthew always won, so they went for another game and somehow ended up coming up with games themselves.

THESE games; Amelia won. Most of the time.

And Grumpy hated to loose. She got so angry, it was REALLY difficult to defeat her after the angry brunette lost. Sometimes causing Amelia to lose… Which wasn't THAT often! Maybe…

The teenager grins at the memories. Yeah, Tonio isn't half as bad. And if she had to decide between having HIM as a stepdad or another man who might be similarly stuck up as her mother… Nah.

Then she'd rather the old lady got together with uncle Tonio.

xxx

After a certain clingy South European let go of her arm because school started and they were in different classes, Lovina slouched down on a chair at the back of the room.

Staring out of the window, the teenager wonders why people were forced to attend this prison of boredom when they could have just stayed snuggled up in a fluffy duvet, munching on a salami and braiding their little sister's wavy auburn hair.

Startled by how naturally she just thought of Feliciana as her _Sorellina_ , Lovina drops her pen and curses, tries to catch it but ends up almost falling of her chair. Result: It makes a hell lot of noise and the whole class turns to stare at her.

The brunette silences their questions with a glare and a grumbled "The heck you're staring at?!"

Her guilty consciousness reminds her of Alice's comment about her cursing habits. Then again… Scanning the room, Lovina can't find a person in the room she would actually try and talk to in a civilised manner. Why bother?

Because Feliciana.

Fuck.

She stuffs her pen back in her pencilcase and returns to glaring out of the window. Not like the teacher in front tried to get her attention back on whatever he was talking about the fourth time. Was his choice to become a teacher; not hers. Sucks if it's your job telling teenagers stuff they aren't interested in.

Hence Lovina continues staring out of the window, waiting for the bell to ring again, throws her things back in her bag and dashes towards Feliciana's classroom. Scowls once she remembers Feliciana's got PE and dashes for the stairs instead.

"What the actual f..." She swallows her complains after almost colliding with a student appearing in front of her all of a sudden. And forgets every curse once she realizes THESE blond waves. "Ma…teo…" Lovina stutters.

The tall boy turns to look her way and she spots a shadow in his almost purplish eyes when he recognizes her. Oh god. WHY couldn't she shut up once in her life?

Like normal people?

It takes some time for the thought her words really hurt him to sink in as well as the realisation she should hurry up and apologize. She should really. Now. How?

But once she looks up, the younger teen is long gone and the Italian curses herself.

xxx

Frustrated after trying to stuff her bag inside the damn small locker, Amelia kind of gave up and just threw her purse inside before she headed for the changing rooms.

Slams the door open and rushes in, already late to one of her favorite lessons. The blonde unhappily realizes there's just two people still changing; the others already left. Which means the girl has to find some space to place her bag between the piles of clothes AND change without anyone to chat with; 'cause the other two are the type to take it slow on purpose because they don't like PE. Or talking. Or anything fun at all.

Amelia pulls off her shirt and is surprised to hear the door open behind her. She glances over her bare shoulder and smiles once she recognizes Happy. Oh. And Grumpy's there too; but disappears behind the closing door. Shame.

The blonde shouts a greeting nonetheless and shares a knowing grin with Feliciana when the Brunette shouts back a "Don't call me Grumpy!"

"But Grumpy's just always so grumpy." Amelia turns to Happy in search of confirmation. Feliciana just laughs and shrugs her shoulders as if apologizing though the blonde doesn't see why she should. Which is kind of awkward. And there's something else which is different about the other girl. "Woah. Feli, you're literally beaming! Anything good happened over the weekend?" But the other girl only smiles fondly at the void in front of her and starts playing with the many tiny braids decorating today's pretty hairdo. Then starts changing as well, happily humming some tune. "Aww, come on. You can tell me!" Amelia tries again, curious for a cool story.

And because the auburn haired girl still won't let her in, the wheels in Amelia's brain start turning by themselves. Something REALLY good must have happened. Grumpy was with Happy just before she entered the changing room. Was Grumpy… Lovina part of why the air around Feliciana sparkles?

What could have made her look like a child who was just told they could celebrate their birthday twice a year? Or three times? Five… Ten? "When was your birthday again?" She asks, turning to look at the other girl fixing her ponytail.

"February 02…" And now it looks as if the auburn haired girl drifts off in thought. Then she «Vee's» happily and the sparkles increase.

As does Amelia's irritation.

Whatever made Feliciana this happy, it would be so cool if she would just share it!

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Familia_ = Family

 _Sorellona_ = Big sister

 _Buongiorno_ = Good morning

 _Voi manga qualcosa_? = Would you like to eat something?

 _Sì_ = Yes

 _Sei sì bellima._ = You are so cute

 _Gelato_ = Ice cream

 _Zio_ = Uncle

 _Scusa_ = Sorry

 **Norwegian:**

 _Dust_ = Idiot

 _God morgen_ = Good morning

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Remember that weird author's note in chapter 34?**

 **It referred to Feliciana's birthday-date ^^ 'Cause that was actually a hint to her connection with HRE.**

 **xxx**

 **Have a nice week and happy Mother's Day!**

 **-Himawari**


	43. The problem: Herself, Lovina

Suspicious.

Leaning against her hockey bat, Amelia stares at the other part of the field.

After the teacher told her to wait on the side-line because she lifted her hockey bat too high (complaining "'Tisn't baseball", "the bat needs to touch the grass all the time" and so on) the teenager lazily watched her team play until she got bored of it. Which didn't take long. Who plays hockey anyways? Xept Mattie of course. Which she could never understand; but even if Mattie plays, there's at least ice skates!

This is field hockey, so the blonde girl decided to sulk and watch the other class play the wrong kind of football on the field next to them.

Aka she spent the last minutes watching Feli dash over the field with a smile rivalling any smile Amelia could pull off. Because, oh my Disney, Happy is still literally SPARKLING. The blonde remembers the weird reaction when she asked Feli about her birthday. Was it just her imagination or did the other girl really space out as if she weren't sure about her own birthdate? And why would that make her so happy? 'Cause that was when the sparkles increased to a maximum.

Something just doesn't add up, and Agent Jones knows she needs to investigate some more if she intends to learn the truth.

Especially, if it's got something to do with Grumpy. Lovina.

Because, as she just remembered, Lovina is Tonio's daughter. And if her mum were to… actually start a romantic relationship with the Spaniard that would mean Lovi would become her sister. Or something like that.

"Goooal!" Feliciana cheers and Amelia watches the auburn haired disappear behind her celebrating teammates. The blonde teenager sighs. Would be kinda cool if Feli became her sister. She's so easy to get along with! While Grumpy's fun to tease but really difficult to understand.

Funnily enough the two brunettes seem to be best friends.

From the corner of her eyes she spots Lovina walking towards the main building and decides she should try and investigate about the dark brown haired girl. Best way to do that would of course be to ask Feli. –And she might just get some background information about Tonio too.

xxx

Lovina stares at the field for some time, watching her little sister hurry to the teacher and bouncing up and down as soon as she spots the black and white ball waiting on the field. Lovina smirks. She decides to fuck being in class on time and wait to see the confused faces of Feli's classmates once the game starts.

Soon, she hears the familiar sound of a whistle and almost sees the switch in her sister's head snap. Only one second ago Feliciano was busy with fixing her hair but once she hears the whistle, the Italian's eyes immediately find the ball and she storms towards it, snatching it before anyone can even blink. Content, Lovina nods and hums " _Brava piccolina_." then turns to head back to the main building.

Discontent, she looks at the grey building and wonders if she should just skip. Her thoughts wander back to her little sister playing football and the first similarity she discovered the twins have. She experiences the same change of personality once a football game starts. And Lovina just fucking loves how people shriek and move out of her way at once. No wonder the same happens to her sister. The older twin just wishes she could storm the field and play on her sister's side. They would kill that game.

Quietly snickering to herself and lost in thoughts, the brunette tries to find a good place to spend the lesson. She could go to the quiet section in the yard where she met the Spaniard. But she doubts she would find the _Signora_ there –Not like she wanted to meet her. And some teachers already seem to know the Italian likes that spot. So skipping there would be a bad idea.

Lovina turns around a corner and feels the grin return on her features. Who would look for her in the library? Except for the librarian. But maybe he isn't there. Otherwise she'll just find a way to sneak past him.

Content with her idea, she opens the door and enters the quiet surroundings. Books and dimmed lights greet her but not a single person is around. Perfect. The teenager slowly passes the shelves with rows and rows of books looking for some sort of comfortable armchair to nap in.

"… No news…" She hears some muffled voices and decides to search for another place but recognizes the voice: "…who or what they are searching …" The headmaster. Speaking more quiet than usually but the voice is still louder than average and the accent to it makes it easily recognizable. Lovina turns to head the other way and make sure the woman wouldn't find her and realize she's skipping class.

She slumps down on a chair on the other side of the library and leans back, slowly closing her lids.

However, rather than sleep, her restless mind finds unnecessary thoughts fighting for her attention. Lovina growls unhappily.

There's that thing with the Tomato bastard she doesn't even want to think about. And the thing with… what was the She-Bastard's brother's name again? She tried to forget she even talked to him and it worked. Partly. She somehow managed to forget his name and his face; but not the nagging feeling of guilt. And then there's… well, herself. Because being Feliciana's sister and all is nice; amazing even but she wouldn't admit. But then there's this one tiny problem.

Which would be herself, again.

Where she was struggling with how her personality and the tomato bastard's didn't match, she now is painfully aware of the gap in personalities between herself and her sister.

They're like night and day. Lovina scowls. Feliciana's sunny nature compared to her dislike for social situations are a mismatch made in hell. Fuck. If people learned they were twins, wouldn't it be bad for Feliciana?

The brunette is convinced it would. After all, the situation with what's-his-name-again is perfect proof. And even Alice commented the teenager's foul language.

xxx

He knows he's caught in a negative loop. And he also knows cursing himself for everything he did wrong in the past doesn't work either. But being aware of that doesn't help nor change the situation he's caused either.

Still, he doesn't see any way how he can escape the grip of the self-hatred. Not by himself.

Only once he hears a car honk in front of his house, the man stops his nervous pacing through the room. He doesn't need to glance through the window to know who is waiting for him. Antonio collects himself, throws a quick glance at the mirror and tries to fix his appearance at least a little before he heads outside to meet his friend.

"Yo Tonio!" Gilbert leans outside the window and shortly stops his honking concert. "You look like shit." The albino snickers and points at the empty seat next to him. "Sorry, just put the beer on the backseat." He shrugs apologetically and starts the engine, waiting for his friend to make enough space on the front seat to sit down.

As soon as Antonio closes the door, Gilbert speeds through the streets with no real destination in mind. The Spaniard uses the time his German (self-proclaimed Prussian) friend brags about how he obtained the beer to collect himself. With one ear he listens to how Gilbert talked his brother into believing he wanted to retrieve their high school album from the cellar, instead stole the key to their beer storage and emptied it. And about how he's on the run now.

Antonio on the other hand reasons with how he should tell Gilbert what happened over the weekend. And which details he should leave out.

For example: Alice.

He doesn't know how much Gilbert knows about him meeting the Englishwoman quite often over the last weeks. And if he doesn't, the Spaniard would like to keep it to a minimum. For several reasons.

"Now tell me." The albino leans back in his seat and glances over to his friend; weird gin on his pale face. " _Welche Laus ist dir über die Leber gelaufen_? 'Cause you look like shit."

Antonio chuckles. The friends never bothered to sugar coat their words. "Thank you. Looking good yourself." The single parent answers and elbows his friend playfully before he turns serious. "Gil, you don't really wanna know. But you'll learn it eventually anyways." He sighs "Because this world is small and Ludwig knows Feliciana and Feliciana… knows who Lovina is." He feels his muscles tense when he has to put the last part into words. Saying it… Admitting everything just makes him feel even worse.

She shouldn't have learned they were sisters under these circumstances.

The German raises a confused eyebrow. "Wooow!" He fakes being surprised. "No shit. What world changing news! Feli knows who Lovi is!" Gilbert misunderstands his friend's words. Eyes focused on the street, he honks and curses at a driver in front of them who is driving to slow. " _Muss ich dir helfen die Karre anzuschieben oder was?!"_

"Not like that!" The Spaniard groans in return but is somewhat glad for Gilbert's reaction. "Lovina knows… Well, about the whole «twin sisters abandoned by their runaway mum»-thing."

"Oh. Yeah, that's… WHAT?!" Feeling his body move forward when the driver abruptly stops the car, Antonio regrets he didn't fasten his seat belt. " _Heilige Scheisse_ , Tonio! That's some shit you got yourself into. What will you do now?"

A car behind them starts honking and the German slowly starts driving again.

Antonio sighs. "I don't know. Wait and pray Lovina won't hate me for the rest of my life?" He glances outside, feeling his mood darken again.

"You know what" Gilbert starts after a moment of silence; the honking stopped. "For once I think that's a good idea." With one hand, the albino starts searching through glove box of his car and finally finds his sunglasses. To protect his reddish eyes from the sun, he places the black glasses on his nose. "And." He starts once more; this time looking at his tired friend. "How did she take it?" The Spaniard doesn't answer, knowing his friend could easily guess himself. Gilbert whistles. "Shit on a brick. Wouldn't want to be in your shoes."

Blankly staring at the trees and houses passing them by, Antonio waits through the short silence, knowing it won't take long until his friend speaks up again. This time, it takes the German longer and the Spaniard starts looking around the car rather than outside the window. He blinks once he realizes the tachometer shows they're driving at 200 km/h but it just makes him realize he never thought anything about it. Gilbert just doesn't like to drive slowly; so he never thought about how fast they actually go.

"How did Feli react?" The albino finally starts talking again and Antonio shrugs, stating he doesn't know because Alice wouldn't let him get near either of the twins. "Alice? What's she gotta do with…? Oh." And the «Oh» has this ring to it which Antonio doesn't like. He shouldn't have said that! "Kesesese. So A-li-ce~? Did I miss anything~?"

And there goes Antonio's hope he could skip THAT detail. He really didn't want one of his best friends to over-interpret the situation. "No «Oh». And no, you didn't miss anything, Gil." Especially not when talking about his other best friend's ex-wife. "Lovina went over to Alice's after I told her. I called Alice and she took Lovi to Feli's. That's all there is to it." –Kind of.

However, his friend doesn't seem to listen because he continues to tease: "So… And how did Alice –who's got not~hing to do with this whole situation- react?" The grin on Gilbert's face makes Antonio regret he even called the German. "I guess she wasn't very happy with you? Hm? –Kesesese!" saying that, he stretches his hand and points towards his phone, asking Antonio to hand to him. Grin still unpleasantly wide, the driver advices his friend to dial a number he knows by heart and to put it on loud speaker.

"No, Miss Kirkland wasn't pleased to learn I lied to my daughter and to everyone else." Antonio explains while they wait for the call to be answered.

Gilbert laughs.

"Gil? Is there any chance I can spend just one day without you calling just for the sake of annoying me?" Antonio recognizes Elizaveta's voice even though she sounds unfamiliarly harsh and snappy. His friend just laughs it off and the Spaniard knows both of them well enough to not be bothered by their unfriendly interaction.

"Kesesese! Can't have you miss me because I don't call. Liz, could you hand the phone your snobby hubby? Gotta ask'im something." To her refusing question why he couldn't just call him directly, the albino snickers he just wanted to get on her nerves. Then he starts chanting: "Snobby hubby, snobby hubby" pressing Elizaveta to hurry up or he'd show off his year-long experience with the best ways to tick the woman off.

" _Was verschafft mir die Ehre_." Roderich's uninterested greeting makes it clear he is not looking forward to the chat.

"Ruddy, _Sprotsfreud_. Your accent sounds horrible; just as I remember it." Gilbert loudly announces; clearly not caring about his… friend's (?) comment. "Heard the whole Feli-Lovi-thing is out. How did the girls react?"

The other end is silent for a bit. "Antonio told you surprisingly fast." Elizaveta answers; seems the couple also put their phone on loud speaker. "Is he with you?"

" _Sí_. I'm here." The man in question answers. "How is _mi pequena_ ; how is Lovi? How did she react? How is Feli? Did…" Finally able to learn about his daughter's whereabouts, the Spaniard starts asking questions on end until he is forcefully shut up by Gilbert:

"Tonio, calm down! How are they supposed to answer if you keep talking?"

"I'm not going to say I agree with Gil because he would keep reminding me I did for the next years or so… Do you mind?" Elizaveta adds. The Spaniard forces his thoughts to slow down, his mouth to stop working and lightly bits his lower lip; waiting. "Feliciana is fine. She was quite happy to learn she had a sister and was glad to share her happiness with the whole family. About Lovina though…" She stops and Antonio feels his heart sink. "She… Reacted as we expected. But as I see it, she's calmed down by now. She actually stayed the night and they went to school together this morning." The Spaniard exhales; almost deflates. His baby is all right. "Holding hands" The Hungarian adds with a warm laugh and finally, after days of worry, Antonio sees a ray of sunlight.

" _Gracias_ , Elizaveta." He sighs happily. "As long as she's all right I don't care what will happen to me." Relieved, he looks out of the window.

Roderich tries to say something else but Gilbert is faster. "So. Was nice of me to grace you with my awesomeness, right? I know. But we've gotta go now. Bye!" he indicates Antonio to finish the call, laughs and imitates Roderich: " _Was verschafft mir die Ehre?"_ dramaticallypushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose and snickers. "Kesesese. That aside… Now how exactly did Alice get involved with the whole mess?"

xxx

For quite some time now Alice kept staring at the same paragraph on the document in front of her. Something caught her attention and then her mind went on a stroll to wherever it's not supposed to be during work hours. Following someone it is not supposed to follow right this moment:

Lovina. Of course.

Her worries for the girl kept disturbing her the whole morning. The Englishwoman sighs and wishes she could just switch that part of her brain off. But… It was just so unfair! Family matters always suck. But in the teenager's case, Lovina had nothing to do with it. It isn't her fault they suck.

It's the fault of a certain Wanker.

Alice scowls at the thought and has to remind herself she's still at work. Killer glaring at everyone or showing her anger through paraverbal means are still out of the question; but the more she thinks about it, the angrier she gets. And it's getting difficult not to show it.

Ignoring her frequent quarrels with Amelia, it's been a long time since she has last been that angry.

And she wouldn't have expected it would be because of somebody else's troubles as well.

Spoilt by her father's love, Lovina grew up in a sheltered environment; isolated from the truth of who she is: A girl who's lost her parents; a girl with a most likely troubling background; a girl with a twin sister. And didn't know because her father wouldn't tell her... Foster parent… Whatever.

A man who didn't even have ANY ties with her to begin with.

As a temporary outlet to her anger, Alice starts sorting through the papers piling up on her desk once more. She frowns and tries to read through the papers to understand what they're about but ends up putting them back to how they were before.

She glares at the stacks as if it were their fault her irritation increases every time she thinks about the Wanker.

Why did he even take it upon himself to look after Lovina? All by himself?

In another attempt to stop thinking for the umpteenth time, the Englishwoman tries and fails to re-focus on her task but ends up staring at the screen for some time before she sighs, looks at the time and turns it off to start lunch break. Luca called her to stop working some minutes ago but the distracted woman had refused and stated she'd like to stay to finish some of her piled-up work.

However, now she's realized staying and staring at the screen during lunchbreak without doing anything won't help her finish her workload any faster. She might as well take a break and try to get her thoughts off… Lovina.

Lost in thoughts, Alice blinks at the black screen for a while, eyes fixed on her own reflection.

When she herself was a teenager, her circumstances sucked as well. Or even back when she was a child. Yet her story sounds like the complete opposite of Lovina's childhood. Alice had annoying older brothers who used to tease her and her parents told her to become stronger if she wanted to do anything against it. They were her blood-relatives, yes; but she didn't like to stay at the family home.

She used to escape to the nearby playground with the little forest. And there she met Ti... the Wanker. And later on Gilbert and the Frog.

She doesn't even remember since when he was there. But he always was.

Another annoying figure always present; always appearing out of no-where just to remind her he was there. Stuck to her like glue. Every major event of her life; every year from the past, there would always be at least one memory about him as well. And; similarly annoying as her brothers, he is still here. The only time he wasn't there was during her first five years of marriage with Francis.

The Frog and the Wanker; the three friends had known each other and Alice for almost all of her life.

And yet… the Wanker LIED. To her and everyone else. For a bloody decade.

Lied to Lovina for more than sixteen years.

xxx

Because hiding in the library for a siesta didn't work, Lovina ended up strolling through the empty hallways for the rest of the lesson.

The bell rang and students started to flood the hallways. The girl kept looking out for teachers spotting her at first but eventually stopped because it was too much of a hassle. Instead, she continued her musing and kept walking where her feet carried her. She would have long left the school-grounds, but she doesn't like the thought of Feliciana going home by herself and probably getting picked on by random idiots. Skipping school while still in school sucks, but oh well.

Hands stuffed in her pockets and face stern and glaring, the teenager continued her mussing. Thoughts turning and twisting around the Tomato Bastard and herself, Feliciana and herself and… Amelia's brother. And how she messed things up.

" _Hola Pequenita"_ The cheerful voice gently brings Lovina back from her negative loop of thoughtsto the light flooded hallways of the school.

" _Ciao Signora_..." The woman's random appearances during school hours make the teenager wonder if the Spaniard moved in. Or is any teacher's spouse allowed to enter the school grounds as they please? Is that normal?

"My, what happened to your hair?" The question immediately makes the teenager snap out of her thoughts.

Her hair? Suddenly feeling very self-conscious, the puzzled brunette brings a hand up to her brown locks. "Is there something wrong... with my hair?" Confused, she blinks at the Spaniard and wishes there was a fucking mirror here.

The woman looks at her with a concentrated stare, making Lovina plead she could just disappear. "No." The beautiful woman's lips turn into a smile and Lovina recognizes an amused spark in her green eyes. "If anything, it looks even shinier than the last time I saw you, _Linda_." She chirps and gently runs her hand through the confused teenager's waves.

Said girl feels her face heat up immediately as she realizes the Spaniard just messed with her. Her confused spluttering is accompanied by the woman's warm laughter and she feels her chest tighten uncomfortably.

" _Lo siento_. You looked so worried, I just couldn't resist distracting you from your worries." The woman's beautifully green eyes sparkle with warmth which only makes Lovina's chest tighten more. "Feeling better?" The Spaniard playfully tilts her head and her brown locks are the same shade as HIS; but compared to his messy short hair, her long waves are beautifully put up in a bun.

Lovina pushes the thought away. At the same time, she turns the other side, evading the woman standing next to her.

"So it didn't work…" The woman sighs with a worried voice and Lovina flinches when she feels a hand gently pat her head. "Now, _Linda_. Tell me what is bothering you." With a gentle smile, the woman pulls the teenager through the halls to an isolated passage. "You look as though you need someone to talk to." The Spaniard gently claps her hands around Lovina's face and turns it so the brunette faces her. Lovina quietly gazes at the _Signora's_ green eyes but can't hold the gaze for too long.

There really are a lot of things which bother her. But… She suspiciously glances at the Spaniard from the side, wondering if she should actually tell her everything but then decides to fuck it all and just go for it. What could go wrong anyways? This _Signora_ doesn't know any of the idiots in Lovina's life. And… And so far she didn't turn her back at the grumpy teenager.

"What if I… hypothetically speaking…" Lovina starts when the _Signora_ stops next to a window but doesn't let go of the teenager's hand. "What if I accidentally cursed somebody and told them to go die? But… again hypothetically speaking, I only said that because I thought they were someone else?" Heat slowly starts burning under her cheeks as she waits for the adult's answer.

To her surprise, the woman doesn't answer at first but only looks at her. "My, how horrible!" The teenager wishes she could disappear. "Did you tell them you didn't mean to curse them?"

Could the ground just FINALLY open and swallow her?! "No..." she grumbles, evading the _Signora's_ worried expression. The lady inquires what she said. "Did not..." the teenager keeps staring at the wall next to her with determination.

" _Pero, Pequena_ ~!" Lovina winces at the familiar singsongy way the Spaniard scolds her. "You need to tell them, or they'll misunderstand you! You wouldn't want them to think you hate them, do you?" This advice irritates the teenager. As well as the sympathy in the _Signora's_ voice.

"You... You're not scolding me for telling someone to go die?" She asks, confused.

The Spaniard shakes her head. "I didn't say anything about that yet. But that doesn't mean I agree with your way of talking, _Linda_. But you're more important right now." She grabs the teenager's hands and pulls her into a comf... clingy embrace. Pats her head and hums a tune. "You're sad because you hurt a person who's important to you. So you should take care of that matter first."

Lovina freezes, unable to process the Spaniard's words. "Care?" she mutters; uncertain how to react. The woman gently releases the teenager and smiles at her once more.

" _SÍ_. You care. So don't forget to apologize." Then, she waves a good bye and disappears around the next corner, making the girl wonder why she would just pop up out of no-where only to disappear just as quickly.

Still staring in confusion, Lovina first doesn't notice the two other teenagers approaching her. Only when they call out to her, she recognizes the She-Bastard's annoying features. "Yo Grumpy!" Amelia greets and the girl in question spots her sister's figure happily trailing behind the annoying blonde. Great. "I heard you can drive a car?"

xxx

" _Nei. Jeg vet ikke_. So stop asking already." Arriving at the canteen, Alice finds her colleagues engages in hushed conversation. This would be an unusual scene if she didn't realize Luca siting on a chair in a corner of the room talking on her phone; voice louder and talking faster than usual. One look at the Norwegian tells her all she needs to know.

Luca sits with her legs crossed and her arms almost comfortably leaned on the table. You could almost mistake it for her everyday poker-face if it weren't for the atmosphere that surrounds her. Alice settles down on an empty chair to eat her toast-sandwiches and watches the vibes around her friend change from disturbed to irritated to seriously annoyed.

Seeing this happen is a rare occasion and the Englishwoman gladly takes the opportunity to ignore her own and another certain Wanker's problems and watches her friend struggle her own struggles.

She doesn't realize when people slowly start leaving the canteen; dutifully returning to work.

"Finally." Luca drops the phone on the table and pushes her chair back to get a coffee. She gladly accepts the warm water Alice prepared for her friend when she boiled some for her tea.

"Martina?" The Englishwoman asks and earns an eye-roll.

She watches her friend start preparing coffee. "...kiss Francis." Alice feels the porcelain cup slip through her fingers and struggles to hold it so it doesn't fall and scatter on the ground. The blonde slowly tilts her head to glance at her boss from the side to see if she just heard right.

She must've just... She couldn't have heard that right. But her boss directly looks at her, waiting for an answer. "Was your first kiss with Francis after you got together?" The Norwegian calmly repeats her question as if she were talking about the weather.

Irritated, the Englishwoman turns to lock eyes with a very no-nonsense looking Luca. Faced with her plain expression, the divorced woman forces herself to remain just as calm. "No." She simply states.

The Norwegian nods and takes out a coffee cup, then she continues asking: "Then when did you first kiss him?"

Alice forces her expression to remain frozen; to no avail as she feels her cheeks heat up. She looks at Luca and hopes her boss and friend doesn't really expect an answer. The bluish eyes tell her otherwise. Alice sighs. This is a black chapter of her past she doesn't want to talk about.

Scanning the room to make sure there really is no one except Luca and herself in the room, Alice braces herself to share a piece of embarrassinginformation about her youth **.**

"I lost a bet."

xxx

A/N

 **Who is who:**

 _ **I thought it might sometimes be of help if I explain which side-characters appear in a chapter:**_

 _ **(Which means everyone who isn't part of FACE, BTT, AusHun, N &S Italy, German brothers)**_

 _Luca (Alice's boss)_ = Norway

 _Headmaster (Martina)_ = Denmark

 _Librarian (Tino)_ = Finland

 **Side characters:**

 _Spanish Signora_ = Nyo!Spain

 **xxx**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Brava_ = Well done

 _Piccolina_ = Little one (fem)

 _Signora_ = Lady

 _Ciao_ = Hello

 **German:**

 _Welche Laus ist dir über die Leber gelaufen_? = What's bugging you? (inf.)

 _Muss ich dir helfen die Karre anzuschieben oder was?!_ = Need help to push your car?

 _Heilige Scheisse_ = Holy shit

 _Was verschafft mir die Ehre_ = What do I own the pleasure?

 _Sprotsfreud_ = Old sport

 **Spanish:**

Sí = Yes

 _Mi_ = Mine

 _Pequena_ = Little one (fem)

 _Gracias_ = Thank you

 _Hola_ = Hello

 _Pequenita_ = Little one (fem; cute minimization)

 _Linda_ = Cutie

 _Lo siento_ = I'm sorry

 _Pero_ = But

 **Norwegian:**

 _Nei_ = No

 _Jeg vet ikke_ = I don't know

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Alice's "dark" past:**

 **I was thinking about writing a prequel to 4t:**

 **«Another teenagers throwing temper tantrums: Kiss the girl»**

 **Seeing how I've just uploaded Chapter 43 of «4t»… There won't be a prequel.**

 **However, having already planned out Alice's and Francis' past comes in really handy now :P Can't wait to drop in bits and pieces and let you know how it all came to be :)**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **NOOOooo Lovi!** **What are you doiiing DX Stop comparing yourself to others. Please :(**


	44. Carried her fucking princess style

**A/N**

 **Sry, I realized I missed to write a word in Lovina's last POV…**

 **Both, Amelia and Feliciana approach Lovina.**

 **xxx**

A whoop of joy resounds through the halls of the school-building while a certain brunette covers her ears to block out the noise. " _Zitto_!" Lovina curses loudly and is happily ignored by the fucking She-Bastard. "Shut up, you're killing my auditory system!" And again, it seems the blonde never even fucking heard of the concept of personal space. The Italian realizes the other girl's intention too late. She only sees the pair of arms and unfairly well shaped chest soon enough to let out a yelp of surprise; but not soon enough to jump backwards and evade them. " _LASCIARMI_!" Lovina screams in shock as she finds herself colliding with Amelia's body and the two of them almost fall backwards. Fucking luckily only almost. Because at least the She-Bastard seems to know how to hold her balance.

"That's the coolest thing ever!" The blonde girl giggles and somewhere in the background Lovina can make her sister's laughter out. She tries to struggle free from the embrace to go and give Feliciana a proper scold. Why the heck would she bring the annoying girl here?

" _Lasciarmi_ , you…" Lovina stops herself from cursing just in time and guiltily looks at Feliciana. She struggles again but Amelia's arms are strongly locked around her shoulders. The teenager stops, places her hands on the blonde's arms and polls on them. "Let go of me, Amelia." To her surprise, both arms drop off her shoulders and the She-Bastard looks at her as if surprised.

The moment of silence is just oh too short and Lovina regrets she didn't savour it more, because the She-Bastard immediately starts again: "So, let's head over to your place and highjack your dad's car!" She exclaims; voice loud and bubbly but Lovina doesn't even hear it.

Her «Dad».

The sound of that word is the only thing she can hear.

Why didn't she call him Papa more while he still WAS her father?

xxx

Everything is freaking Hollywood-plot perfectly working out! Amelia could just hug the world and especially America for how well everything plays out.

Well yes, this's got NOTHING to do with her worries about Mattie but pulling him out of his comfort zone and making him join on an awesome road trip to go whale watching, or to Disney land… Disney land would actually be SO fun 'cause she could take pictures of Grumpy with Grumpy and Happy with Happy and Mattie with Sneezy and herself with Dopey who's just SO cute and… She's trailing off again.

But the point would be to drag Mattie from his comforter and his books and his maple-coffee… Though they could take some of that along. And get him to get his thoughts off of stupid things.

And, just maybe and just a tiny weeny bit get him to talk about his troubles. Rather than playing passive aggressive. Or passive worried.

"So what about your dad's car?" Amelia tries again because after the first time she presented the idea the two other girls became awfully quiet all of a sudden. And 'cause G… Lovi doesn't answer, the blonde turns to look at Feli.

Who just shakes her head as if indicating something. Amelia raises her hands and shrugs, gesturing to Feli she doesn't understand. Feliciana gestures what the blonde recognizes as Kiku's «absolutely no» gesture: underarms forming an «X» in front of her chest.

"Or… What about your parent's car, Feli?"

"They took it this morning." The girl shakes her head. "What about your parents?"

"My mum's… Nah. She always takes it to go to work. And I won't even consider Papa's 'cause he's probably got a date…" Starting to feel frustrated, Amelia puffs her cheeks and searches her brain for people whose car she could borrow without them asking for the unimportant details. Like who would drive.

"What do you even need a fucking car for?" Grumpy grumbles and helps the teenager's trailing thoughts to focus on the important things in life: Life.

"A road trip!" She gently places her arm around the brunette's shoulders and starts to share her plans: "We'll highjack the car; and with you driving we can just up and go ANYWHERE we want; but don't worry, we'll all take care of something as well. I'll borrow some friend's tent and go grab graham cracker cookies and chocolate and…" dramatic pause "of course MARSHMALLOWS! –Then Feli's in charge of lunch. Oh, and Mattie'll prepare a week's worth of his amazing maple coffee!" She dashes her warmest smile at Lovina, hoping even the grumpy girl would eventually let herself be won over.

To the blonde's disappointment, Lovi pushes her arm off her shoulders once more and growls the next words as well; all back in «don't get closer»- mode. "What's the marshmallows for?" She asks and Amelia's jaw drops in horror. "And who's Mattie?"

She grabs the other girl's shoulders, horrified. "Marshmallows! Did you just ask why I would take them on a road trip?!" Her world crumbles. Grumpy raises a sceptical eyebrow. Crumbles; scatters to tiny little pieces. Grumpy asks why that would be important. Not even tiny pieces. Sand. Her world breaks apart and dissolves into sand. Bit by bit the horizon fades into nothing. The nothingness closes in to the teenagers. By now it has reached Feliciana. Amelia turns to look the other way. She doesn't want to see this. "Marshmallows!" She tries once more, desperately holding onto Lovina's shoulders, the nothingness licking at their feet. Lovina's fingers start crumbling and turning into tiny little grains of sand, slowly rinsing down next to her. "Smores?!" Lovina, by now only her shoulders and further up didn't disappear yet, shakes her head. The blonde keeps staring at her as she slowly fades away. A cold breeze dramatically blows the last grains of sand away and Amelia watches in dismay. She closes her eyes once more.

"Never heard of it." A voice breaks through the darkness and stops the vision.

Amelia slowly re-opens her eyes and recognizes Grumpy's features. With a new resolve, she grips her hold on Lovina's shoulders but loosens her grip once she feels the muscles under her fingers tense. "Don't worry, I'll make SURE you'll make up for all the Smores you missed in the past sixteen years." She pats the shoulder. "Just let me take care of that. And you take care of the car."

The brunette folds her arms, scowling as she states: "I never agreed to this stupid road trip." Amelia looks to Feliciana, puppy-eye pleading her to help her out and the smile on the auburn haired girl's face tells her the other girl is already on it. With fascination, the blonde watches Grumpy's expressions while Happy tries to persuade her.

The scowl deepens further in irritation at first. Then Grumpy raises a sceptical eyebrow and grumbles an answer. Then rolls her eyes and… Blushes?! Did Grumpy really just… Yeah. That's definitively a blush. Though the incomprehensible words she splutters in what seems to be an attempt to disagree sound rather harsh. But it's still a very obvious blush. Oh, now a pout.

And like that VERY cute pout; like the one of a cute little kid.

Feli smiles happily and Lovi's signature scowl returns to her features as she agrees "Ok, I'll join you on your stupid road trip."

Amelia dashes her widest smile at the girl. "Aww, thanks SO much!" Lovi evades her eyes. "You'll LOVE it! Helps you leave shitty troubles behind and just go with the flow. I'm actually quite sure that would be your thing." The small grin on the brunette's face doesn't escape the blonde.

"And I guess I know just where we'll get our car."

xxx

Antonio isn't really keen to talk about how Alice in involved. He on the other hand rolled his eyes when Gilbert imitated his Austrian friend. "You know, you don't have to act like you don't like them in front of me."

The German looks at him as if wondering what the Spaniard is suddenly talking about. Rather than answering, he asks a very confused: " _Hä_?!" and remains very serious and very confused for a few seconds. Then snickers, making brunette realize the albino faked his confusion. "Don't avoid the topic, Tonio. Makes it only more suspicious~" Triumphant grin on his face, the albino slows the car down to wait at a red light. "We all knew you had a thing for her."

Antonio sighs. He doesn't like it when his friends bring the old stories up. "Who is «we»? Because you should inform this «we» this was a high school crush. Nothing more." The Spaniard nonchalantly smiles at his friend and shrugs, trying to play it down. His mask crumbles when Gilbert snorts.

The German fastens his grip on the wheel as his shoulders start shaking, suppressing giggles and more snorts. The traffic lights turn green and Gilbert continues driving. As soon as they speed up again; Gilbert turns to look at Antonio and bursts out laughing. " _Ja klar. Wer's glaubt!"_ he manages between the laughter before he can recover and breathe properly again. "Suuure." Gilbert grins sideways at his friend. "T'is also why you ran away when you learned Alice was pregnant."

And once more the Spaniard is reminded why the noisy Prussian and the touchy-feely French are his best friends. They stick to you no matter what you go through. And sometimes know you better than you know yourself. Unfortunately they'll let you know they do at the worst times. And he'd be a hypocrite if he got angry for it because he loves to do that himself. "You know this wasn't the only reason." Antonio gives in. "So please stop nagging me about it but tell me whether you actually know where you're driving to."

"I do!" Gladly, Gilbert lets the topic slide this time.

xxx

It was a nice plan to come here but… Staring at the high fence, Lovina remembers a certain detail which might end their road trip before it even starts.

Tim doesn't like to spend money, but he's recently made a friend who taught him cheap means to keep unwanted people out of your lawn. Which might now become an unplanned obstacle for the Italian. She remembered how he and his sister wouldn't be around for the next weeks because they went on some holiday on a ship.

"Hey! Could use some help here!" A certain annoying voice disturbs the Italian's plot of how to successfully break in and hope to just stumble upon a half open window or something like that. "Grumpy?" The voice calls again but the teenager decides to ignore it; pacing up and down looking for a back door of some sort. „Lovina?" At least she isn't shouting anymore and the brunette just so happens to glance the She-Bastard's way.

She is surprised to find the other girl… "What the actual fuck?" squatting on the wall, trying to grab Feliciana's hand who stands on a rubbish container. Lovina dashes to her sister, afraid the girl might fall down. "How the heck did you get up there?!" She tries to calculate the height of the wall. That blonde is seriously concerningly crazy.

"Cheerleading and stuff" Amelia shrugs her shoulders and grins this annoying I'm-oh-so-amazing grin. "But Feli, who I learned is awesome at kicking people's buts in soccer isn't used to climbing like me. So, could need a hand over here." She swings her arms around dramatically as if trying to reach out to the other girl standing on a fucking container.

"For the sake of driving a fucking car." Lovina grins, content the She-Bastard recognized her sister's talent in football. "And 'sindes, when playing in the same team with me, she could kick even more people's buts." Amelia laughs and Lovina looks for a second container to climb and help the three girls cross the wall.

Which looks hilariously easy in those cursed Hollywood movies but proves to suck hard when you try to do it yourself, but the three girls eventually manage due to the She-Bastard's inhumane strength and climbing abilities. After their attempt to copy the worst burglar in history, Lovina looks down on the other side and realizes she forgot another fucking annoying detail.

Getting up there was one thing. But she didn't think about getting down. "Vee~ isn't that a bit too high up?" Feliciana grabs her wrist and whines exactly Lovina's thoug… As if.

She glances down once more. "Yeah. As if we could fucking get down here alive." And, making sure to keep up the most-annoying-person status, the She-Bastard just proves her words wrong with the most amazing backflip and a perfect landing. "Remind me I will never fucking sign up as a cheerleader." She tells her sister and turns around to crawl down that damn wall like the mere human being she is; clinging onto the slightest cracks of any not-present sort…

She would deny she just squeaked and tried to crawl back up again if she had the time too but her fingers can't hold onto anything else but… Another squeak joins hers as Lovina stars at a brown shoe in horror, realizing she held onto Feliciana's leg and happened to pull the other girl down with her as well. "FELI?!" The teenager shrieks in horror.

xxx

After having to deal with a certain Wanker's inability to follow his own standards and actually commit himself in keeping people's trust, Alice finds herself confronted with another unpleasant topic she would rather avoid.

Anything concerning her past with Francis should remain just that: the past. Nothing people should concern themselves with, but that's exactly what Luca tries to do right now and the Englishwoman doesn't like it. "Does your question have anything to do with the reason for Martina's bad mood?" She tries to shift the focus from herself to her boss. Luca only blinks.

"How did it happen?" She continues asking and the Englishwoman wishes her Norwegian friend would have fallen for her attempt to change topics.

"Is it really necessary I tell you?" She sighs as Luca keeps her eyes focused to stare at Alice. "All right…" the divorced woman gives up. Both women are in a way stubborn. But while Alice has a tendency to be stubborn while Luca is more of a perseverant person. And the Englishwoman doesn't fancy finding out who of them would win the fight of stubbornness if they keep this up. Not when she already has enough other troubles.

And one glance at the other woman tells her Luca wouldn't mind calmly sitting here for days.

"So… I happened to take part in a drinking contest and… well, I lost. And as a penalty for my loss" Luca keeps staring at her with her signature poker face even though Alice is talking about one of her darkest secrets. "Had to kiss… Francis." Then again, you couldn't really call it a secret. In the end the whole school learned about the bet.

She had kissed her sworn enemy and the other students did their best to remember the teenager as often as they could. Telling herself it never happened wasn't possible; thinking of it as a nightmare didn't work thanks to all the wolf-whistles, comments and questions about… Alice pushes the thought away to focus on the present.

She's divorced Francis. Antonio is still a cursed Wanker. Oh, and Gilbert's just Gilbert.

And Martina is noisy and bothersome and… is apparently facing romance-related struggles.

Searching Luca's eyes, she finds her friend's expression as void of emotions as always, leaving Alice wondering if she the answer she gave was of any help to Luca. Luca's eyes shift to the side and her head follows the motion; thinking about Alice's short sum-up. The Norwegian frowns. "Right. I guess she once told me about that…" she stops talking for a second and Alice sees her eye twitch and prays «She» (most likely it was Martina who told her) didn't tell her the whole story. "You still hated Francis. Then you suddenly announced you were engaged to him." The frown deepens ever so slightly but strongly enough to indicate irritation about the Englishwoman's contradicting behaviour back in her teenage days. "About two years later." She calculates and Alice confirms with a nod.

For what feels like a minute, the Norwegian keeps her expressionless eyes focused on Alice. It's actually hard to tell whether she wants to say or ask something or if she's just thinking about something.

Then the Norwegian takes her cup to the sink to rinse it. She holds the door of the cafeteria open and waits for Alice to return to the office with her.

xxx

Lovina's but ungracefully encounters a bush and she feels the small branches scratch her skin. The teenager curses in pain and anxiously waits for the moment she hears Feliciana's body meet the grass. She prays a quick prayer she would survive the fall knowing she won't be fast enough to do anything for the other girl.

Instead of a thumping sound or a crash, she hears a squeak and some laugher. The brunette slowly opens an eyelid to peek at the situation only to discover her auburn haired twin held princess-style in Amelia's arms.

Lovina rubs her eyes.

Curses.

Opens her eyes but all she sees is Feliciana. Held in the She-Bastard's arms. Fucking princess-style.

"Holly shit and everything that makes it stink." Lovina tries to struggle free from the branches and get her feet back on safer ground.

She didn't really need to witness the She-Bastard turning into a prince-charming with the wrong body proportions just after she almost JUMPED over a damn WALL! "We got a car to borrow, don't we? Get your buts moving!" Some more struggling keeps the brunette from watching the She-Bastard gently place naïve little Feliciana on the ground with a stupid grin.

"Need some help?" The blonde appears in Lovina's field of vision holding a hand out.

The brunette slaps the hand away and finishes her fight with the bush. Jumps back on her feet and turns towards the parking space which –luckily- isn't surrounded by an extra fence. "Nah." She ignores the stinging pain from the scratches and heads towards the car.

The old thing better work if she had to climb a fucking wall for it.

In no time, she hears Feliciana shuffle after her. "Vee~ Lovi, are you ok? Are you all right? Does your but hurt? You didn't break anything, did you?" The girl starts fussing over this scrape and that bruise and oh no, there's another one. "Let's check if we find a first-aid kit in the car~" Her _sorellina_ whines and Lovina forces a smile on her lips to ease the worried girl's mind.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad." She fakes and quietly laments whether leaving the wounds as they are or having to deal with wound disinfectant is a better decision. "So. After we manage to find this old machine's key, what's the plan?"

She shudders at the She-Bastard's next words: "Kidnap Mattie, what else?"

"Who?" She barely manages to say but is sure she doesn't want to hear the answer.

 **xxx**

A/N

 **HELP!**

 **Every time I re-read something, I realize a lot of stupid and annoying mistakes.**

 **Lately I didn't have a lot of time to write (as you all must've realized; and I'm very sorry about that) and even less time to re-read the chapter properly for spelling and grammar mistakes.**

 **I am so sorry for that.**

 **Does anyone of you know a beta-reader/ would like to be one? You would help me so much and I would be VERY GRATEFUL.**

 **Thanks in advance**

 **-Himawari**

 **xxx**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Zitto_ = Shut up

 _Lasciarmi_ = Let me go/ could also translate meaning as: Don't touch me

 _Sorellina_ = little sister

 **German:**

 _Ja klar_ = Yeah sure

 _Wer's glaubt_ = Not gonna believe it

 **Swiss German:**

 _Hä?_ = What?

 **xxx**

 **Who's who:**

 **Again, I suppose you know the FACE, BTT characters as well as the Italy sisters and Spain ;)**

 _Luca (Alice's boss)_ = Norway

 _Headmaster (Martina)_ = Denmark

 _Tim_ = Netherlands

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Don't exactly know how the three teenagers ended up trying to break into Tim's house… But it was fun to write. I might add some more in.**

 **Hope u can enjoy my attempt on writing scenes like these as well. If you'd like, please share your thoughts.**

 **I wish you a lovely morning/afternoon/evening/night (choose whichever matches the time you read this update)**

 **-Himawari**


	45. To go on a road-trip

If there was a way to shut people's brains off, she would willingly waste her time away to find it. Or at least stop the unwanted, unwelcome thoughts from making her crazy. From sourcing from the furthest back of her mind. From the «keep out» area locked away to the oblivion.

But there's just the annoying thing about humans.

They can't forget. Not really.

And it makes her happy to know human beings are mortal. Because if she were immortal, Alice wouldn't know how she would face all that shit she's gone through these few years of her life and know they will always hunt her. For decades and millennia on end. Every year again and again. And she would be reminded of the day Amelia moved out and she would never be able to leave the fights with her brothers behind.

And she would always be haunted by her past with Francis.

It would make her go crazy. It already DOES make her crazy.

The illogical contradictions in a certain Wanker's behaviour and the troubles he caused for others. The worries over Lovina. The fact her daughter is the same age as Lovina. And memories of the time she was the same age as the two girls. And if she could turn back and change the past, she would. But if she could, Amelia wouldn't be here. …And neither would Mattie. Her past with Francis… Would have never happened.

Alice shakes her head at her own thoughts and searches through some documents.

She's finally given up on doing any of the piled-up work but to continue with some of these annoying mundane tasks you never really want to do but have to anyways. The ones where you don't have to think but just work.

So her thoughts resume what they did before: go crazy and conclude how that stupid drinking contest started it all. It didn't only give the other students something to gossip about; apparently Francis fell for her when they shared that cursed kiss.

Or at least that's the kitschy shit the Frog told her when he; one of her worst enemies, suddenly turned up and started courting her. Appeared at random times to woo her with flowers and good food and nice words and all the stupid strategies he used to charm whomever he was interested in.

And she hated it and knew he was a Frog and cursed him and…

Somehow she fell for it anyways. Apparently. Otherwise she wouldn't need to worry about her runaway daughter and quiet son.

Her trailing thoughts shortly come to a halt when Alice spots a mistake she needs to correct. While at it, the blonde glances over at her superior who displayed a frown since they sat down in front of their computers. Even though she seemed unfazed at first, now it looks like Alice's story really bothers Luca, making the Englishwoman wonder if she should have just kept quiet about it and told her about her real first kiss with… No.

She really shouldn't.

xxx

"Aaand finished!" Feliciana happily examines her work. Lovina's Arms, neck and face are covered with band aids. If she had a pen, she would doodle a cute little tomato on the bandage on her _Sorellona's_ left arm but unfortunately there is none to be found in that car. Only an old pen which hardly works.

"Finally." Lovina grumbles and turns to inspect her arm. "Wasn't necessary…" she growls to herself which actually makes Feliciana relaxed because the other girl didn't word a single complaint before.

" _Sorella_. You need to look after yourself more." The auburn haired girl gently pats her sister's bandaged arm. One band aid, two, three… She lost count before but she is certain she used more than ten even though Lovina insisted it wasn't that bad. "And if you don't, I will." The younger girl looks at the older one, making sure her expression helps to convey her opinion on the topic. Lovina rolls her eyes.

"What was that about «Soda»?" Amelia pops her head in the car as she did many times already, urging them to leave already.

She seems really excited. And Feliciana is too.

Lovina… is somewhat excited. But she agreed as long as she can drive. So it she will really start to enjoy it once they really start their trip.

Feliciana smiles at her older twin and fondly watches the brunette snap at the blonde and correct her pronunciation. "And what's it mean?" Amelia continues.

The sisters glance at each other; not sure what to answer. Lovina shakes her head. Feliciana nods in understanding. It's better if they don't tell too many people yet. "Do you think we should also go buy some Soda?" Feliciana asks instead and Amelia immediately responds with a cute smile.

"Of course! Loads of it!" She declares. "Are you guys ready?" she swings the door open and slides on the backseat, blue eyes sparkling happily. Feliciana feels her heart warm with joy and excitement. Amelia's such nice company. She glances at Lovina and the warmth increases when she spots the brunette's lips curl into a grin.

"Heck yeah." The older twin starts the engine and her smirk widens as Lovina enjoys the feeling of the motor starting. "Now make sure to fasten your fucking seatbelts because this is the first time driving without the Tomato bastard nagging me to be careful." Amelia laughs and Feliciana comfortably leans back to listen to the engine roar.

"HOLY SHIT!" Amelia suddenly shouts from the backseat while Feliciana enjoys the sight of cars passing them by. She should drive with Lovina some more. It's so much more fun like this. They just passed a Jeep and the auburn haired girl suddenly starts wondering why exactly Amelia seems to be so nervous. Every time Lovina turns the car to pass by another, she shrieks. "Can't you drive like a human being?"

"Ha?" Lovi shouts back; expression immediately displeased. Then it turns smug. "Wasn't it YOU who wanted me to come along?" She snickers mischievously and sticks her tongue out at the rear-view mirror. "And 'sides. We're almost there." The brunette driver announces and takes another turn before she gracefully skids to a halt in front of a supermarket. With screeching tires, the car turns around its own axis and finally stops to block two parking spaces. Content, she looks at her allies who will enjoy this road-trip together. "Feli, you go and buy pasta, tomatoes and some real coffee. Because whatever the She-Bastard back there was talking about sounded like shit dissolved in water. I wouldn't even want to try it."

Commanding this, Lovina still looks pretty pleased as if she just fond something she could use against the other girl if she got on her nerves. And Feliciana knows this is EXACTLY what makes Lovina grin as wide as she does when she enters the supermarket. But Feliciana only sees her sister being happy about the development of her friendship with Amelia.

And how cutely she complain when Amelia finally catches up with them and swings an arm around her shoulders to complain about feeling sick.

Lovi turns red and starts spluttering curses and… didn't she have some peppermint-chewing gums somewhere? Because peppermint is supposed to help when you're feeling nauseous.

xxx

The coolest thing about supermarkets is how there are so many things and as long as you don't take them with you, you don't need to pay them.

Amelia knows where to find the toy section by heart and spots her first requisite within fragments of a second. She quickly grabs a set of plastic swords and dashes back to the food section where she finds Happy and Grumpy lamenting over how many kilos of pasta they need and whether they should take _Fusilli_ or _Rigatoni_ or _Farfalle_ or… They lose her at the one which sounds like «Fetish*».

"Let's just take these." Amelia grabs an armful of Spaghetti and shoves them into Feli's basket. Then she throws one of the swords in Lovi's direction.

The brunette shrieks and struggles to catch the weapon. Gosh, that looked REALLY funny with her swinging her arms through the air like an octopus. So of course Amelia would start laughing and the blonde quickly evades when the other teenager swings the sword down on her head. Amelia stops laughing and gets serious, ready to face the blade pointed at her. Apparently, Lovina also realized she's holding a blade as she stares down on it.

Which would mean the stage and the actors are ready for an awesome swordfight; but her co-actress doesn't seem to get into her role. If grumpily grumbling Grumpy would just stop starring at the blade with that stupid confused expression, they could start the scene! -Pirate vs. Davy Jones it is; because Grumpy just looked really funny back there and even now her hair looks somewhat messy after the drive. So. Davy Jones. Oh, and the way she drove that freaking wreck of a car one could REALLY think they ended up on the Flying Dutchman! Holy shit, that was HORRIBLE!

The teenager feels sick only thinking about it but then remembers where they are. Or more like what they were doing just before. Fighting. With (toy- real) swords.

Oh, and the sword-fight would make sense if it were between pirates. Right! "Come on! Raise your sword!" The pirate challenges her opponent who snorts and looks all disinterested as if she didn't know what toy swords are for.

"What's that shit for?" Her armoured enemy asks and still looks as though they didn't know nor care. Which, the blonde concludes, must source from lack of knowledge. Because if the brunette KNEW, she would join in immediately. Because who isn't always down to fighting with toy swords or a kitchen towel or water guns?

–Right.

So being the awesome person Amelia is, she will help Grumpy gain some first-hand experience because it's just too sad to miss out on this! The blonde shifts her foot and positions herself. Like you see in the movies.

Instead of her sword, Grumpy raises an eyebrow.

"Oh come on!" The blonde sulks, unhappy she would have to explain it. Which sucks so much when you could just do it. "I wanna see if you got it in you like in the stories your dad told about himself and the old Lady."

Though Amelia is content with her explanation without really having to explain anything, Grumpy doesn't even look at the sword but places it on the shelf next to her. "I doubt that." And turns to look for something.

The weapon just lies there, alone and forgotten and Amelia couldn't possibly let it waste away there without fulfilling its destiny. She dashes forward and swings her own blade in her opponent's direction. The metal glints in the air and the young swordswoman stops the deadly blade before it scratches the other fighter's neck. Lovina looks down on the plastic with an uninterested expression.

"Vee~ Lovi, I can't find any (espresso-machine) here. Are you sure it was this store?" Feli appears and interrupts the fight looking worried and Lovi immediately transforms into the worried best friend.

" _Sì. Certo_. This was the place…" Amelia sees her chance and dashes forward to launch an attack. Lovina shrieks again and it's just SO cute how she overreacts! The brunette's horrified expression immediately turns to an angry scowl and she leaps to the toy sword, draws it and blocks her opponent's weapon. The blonde pirate grins. "The fuck, leave Feliciana alone!"

She found her enemy's weakness! The girl could just jump around and cheer but this is serious and she shouldn't lose focus in such a dangerous situation; finally crossing swords with her opponent! "Try me." The girl invites the angry brunette and both girls glare at each other before they jump forward, blades ready to collide.

Feliciana happily laughs and takes a step back to watch the other two girls engaging in a childish fight.

xxx

Behind the high fence Antonio didn't expect to find a small wooden house.

Even less is did he expect the small blond man scowling at them as if they wanted to sell him something he didn't like or want or that was too expensive. And the man's grumpy greeting in some weird language he's never heard before but which oddly resembled German could have easily been interpreted as some sort of «leave my lawn immediately». But Gilbert answered with a simple grin, a German comment and just marched inside. So the Spaniard guessed they came to his friend's friend's place and figured it should be ok to ignore the murderous glare the blonde man gave them and follow suit.

" _¡Hola, encantado de conocerte!_ " The Spaniard greets, uncertain what language to speak with the blonde who apparently understand German but doesn't seem to speak it. (Not that Antonio would know how to speak German…) Once he enters the house however, the brunette starts to figure out what nation the owner comes from because he is greeted by a hallway decorated with pictures, drawings and reliefs of snow-powdered mountain peaks and idyllic lakes. "Ah. Are you maybe Austrian?" He contently smiles at the other man and it all seems to make sense. Because, if he remembered correctly, Roderich told him a lot about the Alps and Tirol and his skiing holidays. Plus there's this certain similarity in their scowl…

Gilbert bursts out laughing and snickers: " _Österreich! Er denkt du kommst aus Österreich!"_ and is beautifully kicked in the shin; sinks down in pain to hold it but continues nonetheless: " _Das muss ich Roderich erzählen!"_

Antonio, confused by the strong reaction of the two men guesses he was wrong and tries another attempt. He looks around the room with wooden furniture and red-checkered curtains. Small wooden figures decorating the windowsill along with some weirdly shaped whitish plant he is SURE Roderich showed him before. And he is also convinced the Austrian claimed it was Austria's national plant so it should have got something to do with Austria, right?

"Wrong. I'm Swiss." The blonde seems to read Antonio's confused expression and answers his question with the second most likely nationality that has anything to do with Granite Mountains, German-dialect and Edelweiss. Which makes a lot of sense now that the Spaniard knows and he turns to look at the displeased blonde once more, ready to apologize but the man turned from glaring at him to poking Gilbert with his foot. "I don't know what you came here for, but Lily isn't home yet." The Swiss scowls as the albino shuffles back on his feet and starts making himself comfortable and starting to switch through the TV channels.

"Don't worry, she told me she'll be here in twenty one minutes." The blonde man checks his watch to hide the relaxed expression shortly appearing in his features. Antonio checks his own watch but if he compares it with the cuckoo-clock in the corner, his is at least five minutes behind. "Oh, and Francis should arrive at the same time." Gilbert states but shows Antonio hand with five fingers, indicating the Frenchman will arrive before that.

" _Wär_?!" The blonde scowls and Antonio realizes he doesn't even know their host's name. Also… he wonders if that «Lily»-person could actually be THE Lily Gilbert kept telling them about. He is about to ask but interrupted by the doorbell.

Gilbert leans back and snickers. "What a shame. Francypants arrives early for once in his life and just decides it should be today. Shame. You just missed the most colourful accumulation of Swiss German curse words." The German starts to explain some examples learned when the Swiss started to complain about something.

" _C'êtait SI longue temps, mon ami~_ " The two men recognize their friend's voice.

To the Spaniard's surprise the complaining words answering don't sound Swiss or whatever that weird dialect is called but French." _Tais toi et sorti de mon terrain_." Antonio glances at Gilbert, wondering if his friend invited another guest. The albino shakes his head.

"He also knows some Italian." Gilbert explains but there is no time to be surprised because the two blondes return to the rustic living room; one happily greeting his friends; the other following after him to chase him back outside. "Oh and he claims he knows yet another weird language no-one's ever heard of." Gilbert continues chattering after he swung an arm around his French friend's shoulder. "Safe for Roderich who thinks he's heard it somewhere before." He glances at the scowling Swiss as if waiting for a reaction but the man turns to polish his... weapons. Antonio would have been surprised if he didn't also love to polish the axe that was handed down from generation to generation and finally to him; but those are quite some modern looking riffles. And judging by the small cardboard box with bullets, you could still use them.

" _Mon ami_ , what did you call us here for?" Francis asks after Gilbert pulled him down to sit at the couch next to them.

Gilbert sighs. "Simple. 'Cause chances I can bring Lily over once so you can actually meet her" He glances towards the man Francis addressed as «Vash» "I thought why not take you guys to meet her instead! –That and 'cause you two doubted my awesomeness in finding the world's cutest person ever." Antonio's guess is proven right.

He whistles and Francis supports with an "Oh la la~" Their friend snickers with slightly pinkish cheeks and rubs the back of his head before he starts laughing triumphantly but quietens down after Vash glares at him.

"Gilbert _."_ The man growls and turns his weapon to inspect if he cleaned it throughoutly. "Don't you dare woo her with pretty words because if you hurt her the next thing you can show off to your friends is a beautiful hole in your stomach."

"Hey." Gilbert complains. " _Was ist daran falsch wenn ich sie das hübscheste Mädchen der Welt nenne?!_ I'm serious about her and you know that." Now it's Francis' time to whistle and drop a comment about how deep their friend must have fallen for the girl if he even admits things like these. "Well… Yeah. I guess about as much as Tonio back in high school." The Spaniard feels the Swiss' glare turn towards him and quickly tries to de-escalate the situation.

"I merely had a crush on Alice. That's all." But Francis starts laughing and Gilbert hits the back of his head. At least Vash turns his attention from the group and continues polishing his weapons. Then the blonde turns to place the weapon back from where he took it and brings out another; a carbine this time.

Distracted by the partly wooden weapon, the brunette hopes the topic is over and barely reacts when Gilbert continues: "Of course you were serious. You did things you normally wouldn't and your actions even made Francis and myself curious."

The last part however doesn't sit well with neither the Spaniard nor the Swiss. "You too?!" Antonio whirls around and inquires; Vash adjusts the carbine which just so happens to point at Gilbert.

"Wow, not THAT kind of interest. Lower the killer glare, Tonio." The German leans backwards and holds his hands up in defense. "Holy cow. There's a reason why us three best friends don't talk about romance. And we all know that reason's the divorced mother of two awesome kids. But it's not my fault Franny here fell for her while you almost drowned yourself in work. –Besides, it's been years since then and you two should finally let go of this." The Albino declares with an annoyingly high-and-mighty attitude which could actually be mistaken for a worried friend trying to mentor between his two besties but the Spaniard feels like Gilbert is just trying to show off in front of his girlfriend's brother.

Because Antonio doesn't mind what happened in the past. He had already given up on Alice even before they graduated, so being mad at Francis or regretting he wasn't the one fighting to get the Englishwoman's would be completely stupid.

And in his case there was never a reason to talk about romance related things with his friends after high school anyways.

xxx

Thinking and remembering won't get her anywhere so Alice asked Luca if she would mind if she listens to some music but today the Norwegian doesn't seem to really care what her subordinates do and just nods before Alice can finish her question. That and probably also because Luca knows of her friend's habit of listening to music when she had a conflict with her ex-husband or her kids.

Sitting at her workplace with her favourite album playing through her earphones, the Englishwoman's mind finally manages to concentrate on the things should concentrate on. Her eyes dart from one corner of her desk to another as she sorts the documents by urgency, relevance and topic. Then takes one bundle after the other and stacks them on a pile to her left. Starts to work through one paper and the next paper and the next, completely ignoring her surroundings as her tea goes cold and the sun starts to set.

And for bloody once she can drown herself in her work without worrying about anything and just forget every stupid thing but the music, the documents and her computer.

When half of the pile is finished, the Englishwoman arranges her things to go home and switches her table lamp off. The office becomes dark and only the streetlights fall through the windows. It's already nighttime.

Driving through the streets, Alice's eyes follow the same familiar routine as always. Streets and houses she passed through ever since she was born. Sometimes it feels as if she knew the city so throughoutly, she could call out every peculiarity of every house. Their Christmas decorations and the flags they hoist when the soccer world cut rolls around.

Flags of Spain and Italy; rare but still present were flags of Egypt, Fiji, India or Kenya and places like Australia and New Zealand. And Alice would always spot them.

Only thinking about them makes the Englishwoman feel this well-known longing to just leave this place and her responsibilities behind. To finally visit all those places she's been obsessed about ever since she was small. During her school days she would collect every bit and piece of information she could find about these places. Their climate, their culture, their history. About the artefacts displayed in the British National History Museum and the places they were found; she would go and get lost in this accumulation of treasures every time she visited London.

What would she have payed to go on a trip around the world. Board the next ship and sail wherever the waves would take her.

The divorced mother of two sighs, remembering who she is and what her responsibilities are once more. She glances up, waiting for the traffic light to turn green but realizes this is not a crossroad she usually passes on her way home. A smile appears as the Englishwoman suddenly feels melancholic.

Once the traffics turn green, she ignores the traffic regulations and turns left instead of driving straight ahead. Follows the small road parting two rows of houses until the last building and parks her car at the end of the road.

Even in the dark, the Englishwoman easily finds her way through the woods starting there and follows the paths she ran along when they played cops and robbers. With her brothers, with Antonio and later with Gilbert and Francis alike. Till she reaches the small clearing with a stream and a rock they claimed had the shape of a ship.

Inspecting the stone once more, Alice chuckles and wonders how her childish imagination could ever see a ship in the mal-formed rock.

With swift movements, she climbs up and sits at the «crow's nest» from where one has the best view of both; clearing and forest.

Even after they graduated and everybody moved out, Alice would return here. Whether she needed her peace and quiet or to get her mind to calm down, it was her secret place.

And then Francis turned up.

The Englishwoman scowls and looks around the forest to check she won't find any ghost of the past approaching through the trees before she leans back to stare her frustration up at the stars. She came here to calm her thoughts, NOT to remember unnecessary details. But coming here to do that was probably the wrong decision, because A LOT happened here. And if she ever intended to come back to this place, she probably needs to absolutely forget a few things.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations**

 **Italian:**

 _Fusilli,_ _Rigatoni,_ _Farfalle_ = Types of pasta

* _Fettuccine_ = (the ones Amelia misunderstood as «something sounding similar to Fetish») = Another type of pasta.

 _Sorellona_ = Big sister

 _Sorella_ = Sister

 _Sì_ = Yes

 _Certo_ = Certainly

 **Spanish:**

 _Hola_ = Hello

 _Encantado de conocerte_ = Nice to meet you

 **German:**

 _Österreich_ = Austria

 _Er denkt du kommst aus Österreich_ = He thinks you're from Austria

 _Das muss ich Roderich erzählen!_ = I need to tell Roderich

 _Was ist daran falsch wenn ich sie das hübscheste Mädchen der Welt nenne?!_ = What's wrong if I call her the prettiest girl on earth?!

 **Swiss German**

 _Wär?_ = Who?

 **French :**

 _C'êtait SI longue temps_ = Long time no see

 _Mon ami_ = My friend

 _Tais toi_ = Shut up

 _Et sorti de mon terrain_ = And leave my lawn.

 **xxx**

 **Who's who**

 **Pretty self-explanatory in this chapter but here you go:**

 _Luca (Alice's boss)_ = Norway

 _Vash_ = Switzerland

 _Lily_ = Liechtenstein

 **So yeah, no random character appearances in this chapter :( But still new characters appeared! (Sorry to everyone who doesn't ship GilxLily; there's actually a reason for this ship…)**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Thx for the reviews concerning Beta-reading and for the encouragements ^^**

 **This chapter isn't beta red yet.**

 **Have a lovely week and I hope if it's as hot at your place as at mine, I hope you can find as many shadowy places as possible and take a dip every now ant then :D**

 **Take care!**

 **-Himawari :D**


	46. She loved him

**A/N**

 **WARNING**

 **This chapter might be a bit awkward to read for NON-FrUK-shippers; sorry…**

 **(And some other shippers of common ships…)**

 **-The uncommon-ships shipper Himawari ^^'**

 **xxx**

The wind gently rustles in the leaves and moves the branches along its song. Leaning back on the cold stone of their «ship», Alice stares up at the sky like she did so many times before.

It was this very place where she met Francis again. Frustrated after a challenging day and not really wanting to meet her family, the young woman disappeared to her favourite place and settled down on the crown's nest as she did now and mumbled to herself about all the things which went wrong when she heard a branch crack in the forest and sat up quietly to inspect who it might be.

She would have expected a deer or; maybe if she was very lucky a unicorn's silhouette sneak past her but not a man's. Her rage went up as soon as she recognized the blonde waves of one of her worst nightmares of a person and wished she could be invisible. Which, of course, wasn't possible and it only took a few moments for Francis to realize her presence.

And of course he wouldn't listen to a word the Englishwoman said and stick around until the sun set and Alice had to run home to avoid her parent's scolding because she didn't notify them she would stay out for dinner.

The next time they met, Alice complained to Francis how it was his fault she didn't get to eat dinner.

And the day after that he arrived with a basket filled with food.

They spent the evenings fighting over British and French food and; because Alice kept going home late and was scolded over and over again, what kind of house they would like to live in once they moved out.

Looking back now, the divorced woman wonders where everything became odd. Became… personal.

Because, with Francis being who he is and behaving the way he did (and still does), the two young adults ended up talking about things like sex before or after marriage, how many kids they want and parenting styles, do's and don'ts in family life. Family holidays. Handling conflict. Managing the family's finances.

The more she thinks about it, the more awkward it gets. Making Alice wonder if she just fell for his attempts in courting her or... for him. For real.

If she was just overly fascinated by his open way of thinking about things or how he had a way with words.

Be it talking to her and giving her compliments or his description of his dream-house. It just seemed as if everything he touched would turn beautiful. Foods, objects and even herself.

xxx

After a disastrous stop at the supermarket, they are finally back at the car and now the She-Bastard insists they let her drive. Let HER drive!

Not like Amelia already caused enough trouble in the shop because she suddenly leapt at Lovina with a fucking sword! Of course the brunette did not shriek or scream or anything like that; she avoided the other girl's attack but the sword flew through the air and ended up stuck between some cans. The South-European decided that fucking was it and the blonde should clean up the mess while they go look for the NECESSARY things.

Oh and of course she would have ordered the She-Bastard pays for everything after all the shit and trouble she caused. But Lovina saw her opportunity to squander another _Bastardo's_ money instead and gladly took it. THIS time.

"So gimme the key!" Amelia proclaims now; after this whole disaster and stretches her hand out. As if Lovina wouldn't have realized it the first two times she did that. "All good things come in threes. So ple-e-ase~?" Somehow, the brunette didn't expect the blonde's puppy-eye attack and hands her the keys, dumbfounded.

Only to turn to Feliciana and ask: "Did she just say «please»?!" The other girl nods happily and follows the annoying She-Bastard to the car while Lovina is still confused because hearing Amelia nicely ask for something… Does that even happen?!

"I didn't think you would fall for it." Feliciana laughs from the front seat. The Brunette inquires what she means and slops down on the backseat. "For Amelia's Puppy eyes!" The blonde laughs along and fucking winks at the auburn haired girl. "I think next time I should try it on you too!" Feliciana giggles.

"Fucking nonsense." Lovina fastens her seatbelt. "I was taken aback that the likes of you could nicely ask for things- By the way, did you ever drive a car?"

She frowns and observes the She-Bastard start the car, glance at the side mirror. "Yes, I really said «Please»" She grins and shows a «thumb-up» gesture. "I do that more often than you would think. Proves to be amazingly helpful." She grin at her through the rear-view mirror then gently accelerate. "And of course I know how to drive! I'm the queen of the go kart course" And as if to prove it, the car dashes forward and exits the parking lot.

"A fucking go kart is no real car! Stop and hand me the keys!" Lovina screams but has to admit the blonde knows how to gently navigate the car through the streets. "Where the shit are we going?" She inquires again and is reminded they had «planned» to fetch the She-Bastard's brother…

But Lovina can't remember she ever agreed on this part of the fucking road-trip.

"Can't you just call him and say you're traveling with some friends and he shouldn't worry?!" she tries but the She-Bastard explains he doesn't have a phone. (After she just HAD to point out Lovina just called them Friends. Shit) "What teenager doesn't have a phone? Which century does he live in?!"

Lovina mentally prepares herself for a lame explanation. "My parents didn't want to buy him one when he was younger; then they got divorced and forgot about it because of all the shit that went on during that time." Lovina stares outside the window and decides the story is indeed lame. "I- the awesome big sister I am- would have bought him one; but I'm blank."

"LAAAAME." The brunette hums and hits a fist against the seat in front of her. "You really suck at thinking things through." Then she spots something which catches her interest and tells the She-Bastard to turn left at the next crossing.

"What for?" And of course her jaw drops when the brunette simply states they could just go buy _Matteo_ a phone 'cause she's got some money at hand she can waste at everything she'd like. "Holy shit!" The She-Bastard complains and as does Lovina when the blonde passes the crossing. "Fuck; whose money?! If you robbed a bank, I'm out."

" _Calma, idiota_!" Lovina complains and sets things straight. "I got some money too, you know. Though right now I'm happily taking every opportunity to waste my parent's money. –He fucking messed up and I want it to hurt." –Which means she makes it up on the spot. And the moments the words leave her mouth the teenager wonders if she really wants that. Then again; the _Bastardo_ did hurt her. "So get the car back to that crossing."

Amelia keeps driving straight.

She also ignores every complaint as if she were used to acting as if she doesn't give a shit about what other people tell her to do; which she probably is. But then she manages IT again: "I mean; it's nice of you and all and it's also kinda ok if you're angry with your Dad and want him to feel it; but shouldn't you use the money on yourself first?" –She surprises Lovina again. Who would have expected the runaway girl to say that? "Like; it's still your Dad's money. AKA If it's you as his daughter wasting it by buying yourself expensive things; that's not the same thing as buying them for a stranger."

She really didn't expect that. Lovina turns to stare outside the window. "He already wasted enough money on me though." The girl grumbles; painfully aware he did it even though she is not his own child. Never was.

"What?!" Amelia communicates she didn't understand her and Feliciana «Vee»'s in sympathy.

"Lovi?" the auburn haired tries to get her attention away from the cold window glass and towards herself. "Lovi, Lovi~?" She hums gently, innocently ignoring the fact her sister ignores her. "Lovi give me your hand?"

Slowly glancing her way, the teenager spots her younger twin gently smiling back at her and stretch her slim hand out to her. Twists around in her seat until she manages to pat Lovina's knee. The older twin shifts her legs so the hand drops off; uncertain how to deal with the situation of her newly found sister trying to comfort her because of her newly discovered not- _Papà_.

"Lovi~ Give me your hand? _Per favore_?" The girl in question blanks her sister's voice out and continues staring at the passing houses, cars, trees. " _Por Favor_?" She asks again in Spanish which is kind of a low blow but somehow makes Lovina give up and she holds her hand towards the other girl who happily winds her warm fingers around her cold ones. "Vee~ _Andrà tutto bene, Sorellona_. It will be all right. Everything will get better. I promise you. _Promessa_."

Lovina stares at the warm hand for a while and wonders if she should really hope but starts wondering what «better» would mean.

Better because she won't see the Tomato-Bastard anymore?

Or better because she will have to accept the fact he is not her father and she is not his daughter?

Or better that he might still let her stay by his side even if she isn't his daughter?

Lovina realizes she's acting like a hypocrite; running away and spending his money because she wants him to realize he hurt her but actually… Feliciana squeezes her hand and gently starts to run circles over it with her other hand's finger. "It will be all right, Lovi~" She hums again.

"Ok, your flirting is freaking me out!" Amelia makes her presence known by interrupting the twins' conversation as she parks the car. "And I don't like these heart-vibes I feel from Feli and these Lovi-vibes I feel coming from Lovi so… Girls; what'ya say we'll stop to go do some shopping?"

The sisters find themselves in front of a brand-outlet shopping market and whatever they were talking about is immediately forgotten. Idiot-Father's money or not; who wouldn't like to spend it in THIS place with «Heaven» as its middle name? "Heck yeah!" Lovina agrees and drags a happy Feliciana behind her who's at least as excited as she herself.

"Amelia~ If Lovi were a boy; would you have minded us flirting in your car?" They pass through the huge glass doors and inspect the signs of what brands to find where. Lovina just found something she liked when her sister's words sink through. She starts spluttering.

"Lovi a boy?!" Amelia joins in and interrupts Lovina's complaints by staring at her with a weird look.

"Vee~ would you like that? What kind of boys does Amelia like?"

xxx

Somehow, Alice always imagined she would fall in love with a gentleman with bushy eyebrows who would open the door for her to enter first, drink rosehip tea and embroider handkerchiefs.

But of course no such man exists and... That still doesn't explain why she started to become nervous before she met Francis. Why she suddenly found herself looking forward to her daily fights with the blonde Frenchman.

If they didn't fight, he listened to her rant about her colleagues, her family, and her frenemies. Francis on the other hand was frustrated how people couldn't just suck it up and at least try to treat each other nicely. Or something like that. But the Englishwoman appreciated how he tried to make the world a better place. In his stupid French way; but it worked.

Somehow.

Of course she wouldn't say so and most of the time messed up in her attempts to encourage him when he was depressed why people couldn't just love each other.

And would look at her, stare into her eyes and… for once be quiet.

But the young woman would neither mind nor realize.

And her older self blinks her eyes open and realizes how sleepy she is before she remembers where her thoughts trailed off to. Sits up, groans, rubs a hand over her face and curses. Bloody hell, Luca! How could her friend's simple question bring up all those crappy memories?!

xxx

Of course they were both very surprised when a small, cute and gentle girl entered the house and was grabbed by the Swiss with the weird name again but Gilbert was faster; surprising the friends even more when he swiftly intertwined his fingers with the young blonde woman's and whirled her around. Their eyes met and her eyes sparkled when she smiled at the swanky albino. " _Schatz_!"

Antonio can literally hear Francis' jaw drop in shock. " _Mon dieu!_ " The Frenchman exclaims. " _Je n'aura jamais penseé_ … Lily?" He words his confusion and Lily; the Spaniard concludes the blonde's name is «Lily»; turns to look towards and apparently recognizes Francis as she smiles at him and greets him as well. Antonio shrugs his shoulders and decides since everyone already seems to know each other he should also introduce himself.

" _Sehr erfreut_." Lily replies with a curtsey and politely translates: "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Lily. I suppose you have met my brother Vash?" Antonio answers her smile and nods then follows her invitation to stay over to have some tea and cake.

" _Secher net_!" The Swiss interrupts and glares at Gilbert but his sister somehow manages to talk him into agreeing and Francis holding up a bag and announce he brought _Éclairs_ seems to help a lot. And finally the group settles around a wooden table to spend the rest of the evening getting to know each other better and trying to outdo each other with stories about their loved ones while one of the five is uncommonly quiet.

xxx

Alice crawls down from the crow's nest and looks back up to where so many things began. And many more happened. As a child she played pirates, cops and robbers or built fairy-houses; completely oblivious this would also be the place she would get to know one of her frenemies better. Talk the nights through; fight, laugh, eat and plan the future. At this very place, far from where others could know what was happening.

When the thing between her and Francis became official, everyone was shocked. Which makes a lot of sense because, from an outsider's point of view all they did was fight.

And it's really all they ever did. But somehow the days became boring without him sticking around and Alice found herself thinking about what they could do the next time they meet up.

You could even say she got used to it. And when she finally seemed to understand and accept their relationship of friendly bickering… Actually was happy with the way they were… he kissed her and proposed and took her by surprise and swept her off her feet…

Alice places an empty left hand on the cold stone and stares at it.

It sounds like a Hollywood romance.

The divorced woman slowly takes her hand where she no longer wears his golden ring from the stone and reminds herself how the story really ended:

They became a couple and lived happily and often enough less happily; but certainly not ever after.

End of the fairy tale.

Slowly, Alice distances herself from the rock to pass back through the forest and return to her car and her present life again.

She looks back through the trees at the rock illuminated by the moon's light once more and has to admit:

Quietly:

She loved him.

xxx

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Bastardo_ = Bastard

 _Calma_ = Calm down

 _Idiota_ = Idiot

 _Papà_ = Dad

 _Per favour_ = Please

 _Andrà tutto bene_ = Everything'll be all right

 _Sorellona_ = Big sister

 _Promessa_ = Promise

 **Spanish:**

 _Por Favor_ = Please

 **German:**

 _Schatz_ = Honey (Lover's nickname which means «treasure»)

 _Sehr erfreut_ = Pleasure to meet you

 **French:**

 _Mon dieu_ = OMG

 _Je n'aura jamais penseé_ … = Who would've thought

 _Éclairs_ = a pastry

 **Swiss German:**

 _Secher net_ = Certainly not; forget it

 **xxx**

 **Who's who:**

 _Vash_ = Switzerland

 _Lily_ = Liechtenstein (Gilbert's girlfriend)

 **xxx**

 **Beta-Reading**

 **Thank you for your feedbacks in the reviews!**

 **Lillypool15 I couldn't reach you by Personal Mail? If you would still like to Beta-Read and find some time you can contact me via PM or in the Reviews (and tell me how we could communicate to specify some details)**

 **Thank you!**

 **xxx**

 **School, Grades and so on…**

 **I realized some things don't make sense concerning the teenager's ages, school, and whether or not they should be allowed to drive a car or not. I'm sorry if I confuse you guys with that.**

 **I'll just leave it as it is and gloss over the important details (such as in which country this story takes place…)**

 **Sorry.**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Nothing really… I'm just sleepy is all. Good night! (Or good coffee, tea, coke… depending on which you prefer)**

 **-Himawari**


	47. Evade bad thoughts? keep your mind busy!

Finding what's-his-name-again should have proved to be reeealy difficult if one could trust in anything the She-bastard said… But in the end the very girl herself came up with a bunch of ideas where they could find her «Baby-brother».

Lovina would have preferred they didn't find him at all because he was one of the reasons she agreed to this stupid idea of going on a road-trip. Because, what better way is there to evade stupid thoughts but keeping your mind busy with thinking about something else?

Her eyes trace the shades waiting for them in the backyard of the school and the teenager remembers one more why she dislikes the grey building. It couldn't look any darker and creepier at night, of course. With the wind whispering in the leaves of trees she can't even make out in the twilight anymore.

Normally she wouldn't even be out at this hour; and even if she were, she would cling to the Tomato Bastard's arm and complain about the darkness, using the tree's roots as an excuse to cling to him. Then he would laugh at her and tell her they're walking on the street and there are no tree roots to make her stumble. But what does he know; she would trip anyways.

As if reminding her he isn't here, she feels a stone or some other fucking thing almost making her loose her balance. "Lovi, are you all right?" a figure pops out of the darkness next to her making her jump. She grumbles a reply she didn't mean to sound harsh but was just too startled to keep her voice from shaking. And blames it at how late and tired she is. "Vee~" Feliciana grabs her hand anyways; which is pleasantly warm and Lovina tries grumbling with less anger in her voice:

"'m fine." The Italian angrily glares at the darkening sky and wonders why the fuck they would search school at THIS hour. –Like there'd still be people around. AND it's school. The very place you leave ASAP. Always. And never return to unless you have to. So the teenager wonders once more just what the fuck they are doing here.

This is only the third stop in their attempt to find… whom again? And if the She-Bastard weren't there Lovina would have never found it to begin with. But, Lovina realizes, she almost doubts her own eyes wondering how she could have missed such a huge building all the time. When it's THAT close to her favourite spot in the school's backyard.

"Come on, guys! I saw Mattie over there somewhere." Amelia insists, pointing at an empty yard and grabs Lovina's ankle to pull her forward. The brunette stares at the other girl's hand and her irritation makes her forget why she wanted to boycott the mission with a name stupid as:

«Fetch Mattie without anyone noticing us because we are just a group of girls that just so happen to come watch hockey practice which is completely normal and nothing suspicious and no-one will realize we're actually here to kidnap one of the Ace players because most people forget... (+add in all the other things the She-bastard said as well but Lovina doesn't remember because she didn't listen from the start)»

The doors open as the blonde drags her inside. Cool air surrounds the girls and Lovina hardly registers Feliciana dash forward to admire the muscular boys on skates; but pouts when she realizes they're all wearing their training attire; whole body covered by either cloth or protectors. One of the hockey players realizes the girls and there goes Amelia's stupid plan of naïve invisibility.

Amazed, the girls watch the tall player glide over the ice in swift movements and ignore the shiver running down their spines thinking it's from the cold air in the hall. They realize it's not when he takes his helmet off and their eye-candy turns into scary Ivan. "Braginski" Amelia grumbles and slaps a hand on his chest to push him to the side. "Outa the way. I'm looking for Mattie." The silver haired boy smiles at the blonde, making Lovina's and Feliciana's goose bumps increase but Amelia seems unaffected.

"Why the rush, Астери́ск?" the hockey player hums and places his hand over Amelia's who is still trying and mostly failing to push him away. Horrified, Lovina watches him gently wrapping his fingers around Amelia's and gazes at the blonde who, to her absolute horror still seems completely unaware of the whole situation.

Distracted by the obliviousness of the She-Bastard, Lovina misses the amused glint in the tall Russian's eyes when he realizes the Italian's expression.

His lips curl into a small grin as his eyes move to glance at the brunette an back to the blonde before he hums just a bit too sweetly: "Have any plans tonight?"

"Nothing the likes of you need to know." The She-Bastard removes her hand from under his and Lovina feels oddly relieved. –Of course because the other girl didn't really answer his question. Yeah.

Having the Russian know what they're planning and where they're heading... She couldn't sleep at night. Because, with this freaking-Lovina-and-everyone-else-out air he has around him, he could end up stalking them.

Or send his sister and then she would sneak after them and then she would steal the plastic knives they bought and ... "Because, yeah. We're going on an awesome road-trip to awesome places without any crazy freaks like you around." The She-bastard states like a four years old who declares who is and who is not invited to their birthday-party. Lovina feels like she could cry and swears to herself to never try and hide behind the self-proclaimed heroine again when the creepy Giant is anywhere near.

It never turns out good.

Last time Amelia tried to hook up their parents and this time… Never mind.

A gentle but urgent pull on her shirt distracts the brunette from how stupid certain people can be and she turns to Feliciana. The other teenager looks pretty freaked out and the older twin truthfully guesses she just sneaked away to wherever she was out of sight as soon as she had recognized Ivan. The auburn haired points behind Lovina and Vee's "He's leaving" in a relieved sigh. Then adds: "Oh, look, _Matteo's_ here too!" And without giving Lovina a chance to hold her back, Feliciana darts forward and waves, shouting: "Vee~ _Ciao_ _Matteo_! How unexpected! What a surprise to meet you here!" in an overly-dramatic way.

Rolling her eyes at her sister, the brunette has to agree sneaking around isn't quite her style when a bunch of cute boys of skates is just a few metres of ice away.

Lovina hears the She-Bastard gasp in shock next to her, because Feliciana managed to get everyone's attention with three sentences and messed with the plan of going unnoticed. So the brunette visibly face-palms, joining in with her sister's exaggerated acting and hides a triumphant grin because Amelia sighs as if she actually believed Feliciana didn't call out loudly on purpose.

"Feli, it's not really subtle to call out to him like that. Now everybody saw us." The blonde states the obvious but pats the sadly «Vee»-ing auburn haired girl's head and shrugs her shoulders. "Can't be helped now." The twins share an amused look, both knowing they would have dragged some attention to them sooner or later; but neither wanted to sneak around until that happened when they could instead mess with Amelia. And, seeing her reaction, the blonde completely fell for it.

It's a mystery to Lovina how the She-Bastard couldn't have realized the game stopped as soon as Ivan came to greet them. One of them in particular seems to stop in the middle of his attack when he spots the group, the puck sliding over the ice in front of him forgotten. He shakes his head and takes off his mask to reveal blonde waves. Then glides over the ice just as Ivan did, but with slower and much gentler movements.

The brunette high schooler standing at the side of the ice rink unconsciously kneads the hem of her shirt and shifts from one foot to the other. An unpleasant feeling starts to rise in her though she doesn't really know which one but takes a step backwards as he moves closer anyways.

"We came to watch hockey practise. How come YOU're here?" Feliciana innocently greets him.

"He's THE reason why we're here?" Amelia, still unable to read the atmosphere, reminds her. Feliciana defends herself, explaining she's just sticking to the plan and playing the oblivious «group of girls that just so happen to come watch hockey practice which is completely normal and nothing suspicious and no-one will realize we're actually here to kidnap one of the Ace players because…»

Lovina doesn't listen to the rest because his expression still looks somewhat distracted and far from the calmly smiling boy she met a few days ago. The disturbed glint in his eyes doesn't match the purple irises and greatly distracts Lovina as the unpleasant feeling increases and most of the conversation happens without her listening to a word the other three say.

She only registers some complaints and arguments; and is certain the boy isn't all too happy the girls want him to leave in the middle of practise. At night.

But seeing how the team continues without _Matteo_ , his sister easily proves her point and Feliciana quickly talks him into coming while Amelia bribes him with hot chocolate, marshmallows and a campfire.

xxx

"That was awezome" Gilbert declares and snickers as he imitates Vash when he finally decided it was time to kick the three uninvited guests off his lawn. The Swiss made them leave by pointing out how late it is and they should leave so the siblings have enough time to finish their daily routine before going to bed at 11pm. "And by 10.05 pm it's time to brush our teeth, then clean our faces at 10.10 pm and..." the albino repeats the schedule as if he knows it by heart and especially points out the time at which the pink pyjamas are put on.

Antonio smiles at his friend making a fool of himself as he mimes every action he talks about. He also wonders why the pink pyjamas needs a special mention. The Spaniard guesses it would suit Lily. Muttering his thoughts aloud earns him a chuckle from Francis.

"But she's a cute girl!" The Spaniard defends the innocent blonde and, with a smirk, Francis points out her brother would wear a pink pyjamas as well. "What's so bad about that?" Antonio still doesn't get his friend's point and waits for an answer but as he stares at Francis, the blonde seems to think for a bit then shrugs his shoulders.

"Guess I couldn't say anything, seeing how I also have some pink shirts in my wardrobe." Then he flips his wavy hair back with his hand and declares: "But that's just for the sake of fashionable- _moi_. And of course, because I can make any colour look _magnifique_." Amused, Antonio watches the Frenchman strut down the street as if it were a catwalk of the Madrid Fashion Week. Then starting to bicker with Gilbert who's in «Stubborn-Independent-Swiss»-Mode and strongly disagrees with the «beauty-oriented» occasional-model.

Seeing his dear friends acting as silly as they always would; just being themselves and being the crazy idiot who became his best friends, the single parent feels as if his worries disappeared into nothing. For the first time in days, Antonio's heart-felt laugher fills the air instead.

As stupid and as unreliable as those two can be (and he himself is no exception either), spending time with them makes one forget about everything else. Be it troubles, worries or responsibilities. Be it school or work; parents or spouses, girlfriends or love interests; it's their unwritten rule not to talk about any serious topic. Most of the time.

As he remembers the few moments this rule was broken, Antonio's mind drifts off as they pass houses illuminated by the street lights. Their shapes are difficult to make out against the darkening sky and his well-known fear kicks in.

Sending a prayer to the heavens, the Spaniard hopes his _bambina_ is safe and sound and INSIDE at this hour. Knowing her out of his reach… Even his friend's random jokes can't distract his mind long enough and the three continue their way, talking loudly without actually communicating.

xxx

After fighting off a certain Russian bastard acting as if he still lived in that freaking cold-all-year-round country somewhere not close to any country people ACTUALLY know; Amelia pats herself for successfully drag Mattie along.

Well, being fair she would have to say she didn't really give him any chance; and she might have used a few; few white or maybe grey lies to get him to follow them but hey; the girl contently smirks at the rear-view mirror; she just bent the truth a little.

Given he didn't break into tears of joy when he learned they had practically planned to spirit him away… "Hey guys, where we're gonna stay over?" She suddenly remembers and immediately tells the group about her awesome plan of breaking in a Zoo and sneak in to…

"Yeah, sure." Grumpy interrupts the blonde "And you're gonna sleep with the snakes."

Amelia shudders and suddenly the Zoo doesn't seem like a good idea anymore. The blonde tries to laugh it off and lets Feli pat her arm to calm her down. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's herbivore snakes too." The blonde almost shrieks at the attempt of the auburn haired to calm her down. Both Happy and Grumpy start laughing and of course Mattie just HAS to join in.

Her thoughts filled with those long, slimy beasts, Amelia's thoughts start to go on an expedition to events and nightmares of her childhood days; their main actors snakes, slowly tracing up her arm and tickling her neck and…

"NOOO!" Amelia jumps and screams and slaps the hand away which traced up her arm and angrily turns to glare at Lovi who mischievously reminds her to «face forward while driving»

"Or want me to take over?" The brunette smoothly suggests. "You must be tired. I can guide you guys to a nice B&B close to here. Stayed over when I travelled around with the Tomato-Bastard…"

And for the umpteenth time, the brunette stops talking all of a sudden. And Feli does that «Vee»-ing in sympathy thing; and then Lovi goes all depressed and Feli keeps up the cooing and… Amelia is just freaked out by that almost telepathy-like way of communicating only through grunts and sounds and glances.

So, as for another umpteenth time, Amelia decides it's high time to change topics. "Where did you travel to?" She asks and waits for the other girl to hesitantly start talking; then remembers. "Right, didn't you and Tonio go to like, travel around the world or something? Heck, do you even remember anything since you were, what, five when you came back?"

"Yeah. We went to Spain first. Then drove down the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea and back up along the Adriatic Sea and came back here. I mostly remember about South Italy though; and a bit about North Italy." Having found something interesting to talk about, the blonde continues asking questions and in between asks where this B&B is and how to get there. "Shut up and stop asking thousands of questions at once." And because this comment is as good as an invitation to annoy Grumpy, Amelia calculates how impossible it is for her to ask this number of questions within such a short time and… "Oh just shut up. So yeah; most of the time we just drove to a city; a village or a farmer's place. At some we stayed for one meal then continued driving and slept in the car. At other places, the Tomato-Bastard managed to get some odd job. He'd work there for a few weeks to earn some money so we could continue traveling."

"And what'd you do while he was away? Doesn't it suck not to have any friends stick around? You travelled with just the two of you, right?" Navigating through the streets, Amelia easily manages to ask questions about this monster-road-trip and where to turn at the next crossing.

Grumpy shrugs her shoulders. "I spent most of my days doing random stuff. Walking around the house; the area or just practising my cooking skills or something?" Uncertain, if this is the truth, the blonde glances at the brunette's reflection through the rear-view mirror once again and is surprised to see a relaxed expression soften the girl's features, accompanied with an amused glint in her eyes. "Or just cause a ruckus and make the Tomato-Bastard look bad in front of his boss, our neighbours and so on. And then we would pack our bags, jump in the car and drive to the next place, bickering all the way." Then, the fascinating expression disappears and sadness seems to overcome the brunette.

Without realizing, Amelia keeps staring and a gentle nudge reminds her of where they are. "Amelia, the light turned green." Feli points out and the blonde continues driving but her thoughts stay with the brunette sitting behind her.

Because something is off. To be precise, it seems like something happened between Lovi and Tonio over the weekend and it made the teenager sad.

And Feli knows what it is.

xxx

As they walk through the city, Antonio finds himself torn between both, worrying over his daughter and watching his friends; uncertain what to do. Especially because of their "No serious topics"-policy; blessing and curse.

Looking around the dark streets, for once, the Spaniard questions his bond to the German and the French; seeing they've been friends for the longest time, it shouldn't be so difficult to tell them about his troubles. His thoughts, his worries.

As they reach a bridge, the three adults exchange a glance and nod in silent agreement to head to their secret base. They cross the stone construction halfway and look around to see if there are other people but spot none. One after the other climbs over the handrail of the bridge and down the pier expertly, knowing where to put their hands and feet after years of practise. Antonio follows as the last of the three, because he stood to watch the scenery from the bridge for a bit longer than usual.

His feet touch the ground and he slowly balances along the small way around the pier to join his friends trying to find a dry spot on the bridge's footing.

"Shit. Did we grow taller again?!" Gilbert complains when he realizes sitting down comfortably at the small space isn't as easy as it used to be when they were kids.

Francis cranes his neck to get a good look at the Albino's behind and states: "Or maybe your _cul_ got bigger?"

Antonio, concentrated on nestling down without losing his balance decides both are right. "We should probably look for a new place. This is getting dangerous." Once he managed to sit down, the Spaniard stares down at the water flowing past mere inches from his shoes.

Over the years, they came to this place to toss stones, drink beer, and complain about things that annoyed them or, every now and then, talk about serious matters. And apparently, today is one of these few times.

Antonio continues to stare at the water and waits for the others to settle down. He realizes Francis stopped shifting and settle down quietly as well, waiting for Gilbert who is muttering and cursing to himself in German.

Then, finally, the Albino starts speaking and unfortunately brings up the topic he started earlier that evening. "Guys, you really need to talk some things out. ESPECIALLY things related with Alice." Antonio suppresses an unhappy growl and glances to Francis who evades his gaze. "Because, first I'm going out for a drink with Alice and she can't spare a second listening to MY awesome stories I have to tell because she is too busy talking about her own shitty life…" Gilbert starts with an argument the Spaniard didn't expect and adds further to the brunette's confusion: "Which is related to both of you. And now even Mattie evades me! After he went over to your place a few days ago, Tonio?" What happened?!

" _Quoi_?" Francis looks up in confusion and mirrors Antonio's asking expression. "Why would you suddenly change the topic to my _Mathieu_?"

"What!" The Albino lifts his pale hands in defence, then points between his Spanish and his French friend. "Don't tell me you two don't know why Mattie can't even look me in the eyes?! He seemed super jumpy, didn't respond to my calls, texts and so on! _Alter_! That didn't happen since the whole divorce-crap happened. –I asked him if it was his stupid dad's fault and he denied, so…" He looks at Antonio.

For a while, the later stares back at his friend's reddish eyes, unsure what he wants to hint at.

"What happened?!" He asks again and looks back and forth between a puzzled Francis and Antonio.

xxx

They spent the last hours driving and Lovina rolled her eyes when her sister turned the music on and she and the She-bastard started singing along with random songs. Lovina might or might not have joined in for a few songs. She stopped as soon as she realized she was singing and instead started to glare outside the window when Amelia turned around to complain because "Wow, Grumpy, your voice actually rocks! Why did you stop singing?" and the brunette would ignore her. And scream at her to turn around and look where she's driving!

So yeah. Lovina regretted the whole road-trip many times already.

Because just sitting in a car and staring outside (it's pitch black by now) is kinda boring so she starts to glance around inside the car and freezes when her eyes find Matteo's.

"So…" Lovina starts, deciding she no longer wants to deal with feeling guilty. "Sorry about the other day." She blurts out and evades him immediately because the seat in front of her is just so interesting. And she kinda regrets she said anything the moment the words left her mouth.

"Excuse me?" his barely audible voice asks, sounding uncertain and confused. Lovina rolls her eyes and swallows her pride to repeat her words while glaring at the void. "What for? Did anything happen?"

Lovina notes the real confusion in his question and decides to take another glance at him. "… I kinda told you something really bad?" He tilts his head. "On Friday?" She tries again and adds: "Lunchbreak? You were heading outside to the backyard and… Yeah. I kinda mistook you for…" She gulps and evades his eyes again. "…someone."

"Oh." Is all he states then remains quiet for a few minutes and the brunette ignores the asking looks of the girls sitting in front of them. "Sorry, I didn't really realize you. I was distracted, so it's ok."

Scowling at her sister's concerned expression, Lovina nods when he answers then stops and blinks in confusion. "You didn't realise me?" She snaps around to stare at him again and startles when he drops his head in a nod. Her brain takes a few seconds to process the new information it wasn't her fault he looked so worried over these last days but her mouth seems to work as fast as always: "Then what happened?" The teenager mentally slaps herself for being insensitive. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's ok." He shrugs, voice thinner than usually. "I overheard something at the library I'd rather I didn't know…"

xxx

After an awkward half an hour or something of listening to Gilbert rant about… Err… something… and random things later; and Francis and Antonio dropping in some comments every now and then, the three eventually grew quiet and stared at the water. Some more minutes passed until the German decided it couldn't get any more awesome as this tonight the three climbed back up which proved more difficult this time because the night was already pitch black. It made them doubt once more whether the risks they take every time they come here is worth it, but neither said anything so they would most likely end up at the same spot another time and have to climb back up in the middle of the night.

Antonio, once more, stared at the stars which he could hardly make out here in the middle of the city and wished himself back to the Spanish countryside or to a ship in the middle of the ocean where the skies were clear at night and the stars shone brightly.

A strong slap on the back quickly brought him back to reality and Antonio stared at Gilbert's familiar grin. " _Tschüss_. Gotta make sure Ludwig doesn't pee his pants having to spend the night home alone." Francis advices he should knock before entering the house/ any bedroom and Antonio remembered how small the blonde boy was when he was younger.

A few jokes later, the German waved at them once more and disappeared into the night. Antonio would've gladly taken the opportunity to leave as well, but Francis stuck to his side because they live in the same direction.

"What do you think happened with… your son?" Antonio dares to bring up the topic but avoids the issue with the name nonetheless. The Frenchman shrugs his shoulders.

"How about we try to find out over a drink?" The Frenchman proposes and fondles for his car keys to unlock the vehicle waiting for him some streets from Gilbert's girlfriend's house.

The Spaniard shakes his head. " _Gracias_ , Francis I would like to come but..." But now it's time to go home because Lovi... Oh. His smile falters for the fragment of a second before he composes himself again. The familiar fear combined with a new pain and feeling of loss mix and want to drag him down again but he realizes his old friend's expectant smile and shrugs his shoulders in an attempt to shrug all his worries off as well. "Well…"

He suppresses his desire to jump in his car and drive right to Feli's place to take his baby back. For one because his car stands right in front of his house; though he could walk there... But he also knows Lovi might actually scratch his eyes out. And if the teenager doesn't then Alice would. Gladly.

"So...~?" Francis sneaks a hand around Antonio's shoulder. "What is your answer? Are you coming over for some Sangria and some overdue boy's talk?"

And for a moment, the Spaniard plays with the thought they could talk about Lovi. But there is also the possibility they would just drink and talk about silly things instead and Antonio considers running from his responsibilities; his consciousness; his bad decisions. Then he shrugs his friend's arm off, wishes him good bye and heads through the dark street towards his empty home.

Not today.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Russian:**

Астери́ск = Little Star

 **French:**

 _Moi_ = Me

 _Magnifique_ = Amazing, beautiful…

 _cul_ = Arse

 _Quoi?_ = Excuse me? / What?

 **Spanish:**

 _Bambina_ = Child (fem); Baby girl

 _Gracias_ = Thank you

 **German:**

 _Alter_ = Dude

 _Tschüss_ = Bye

 **xxx**

 **Who's who:**

No new characters in this chapter :)

 **xxx**

 **SORRY!**

 **For not updating for a month. :( That was too long!**

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **Understanding characters… As difficult as alwaaaays.**

 **And, tbh, I'm not sure about the terms "pier" and "footing"…**


	48. This road-trip sucks

Because the world is as unfair as it is; like, for example because one would get a stomach ache when they eat one too many hotdogs; or like your parents would tell you you will get a stomach ache even if you know you don't and will therefore not allow you to eat one more. Or two… That's just how unfair it is and there is another EXACTLY perfect example happening right now because she went on a freaking road trip with Grumpy and Feli and because the hostel they're staying at only has double rooms and not Amelia got stuck with Mattie. "Just why with MATTIE of all people!" The blonde continues whining and ignores her brother's annoyed complaint.

"Shut up already!" He shouts and Amelia smacks a dusty pillow at the bathroom door.

Life sucks. "Can't hear youuu! 'Cause Grumpy's shouting from two rooms down the hallway is louder than yours!" The girl takes the second pillow to smack it at the door and watches a whirlwind of dust dance around it as it falls to the ground. "Sucks. Sucks. Life sucks. And now I'm having a pillow fight with the door because Grumpy kicked me ouuut." Too lazy to get up and get the two pillows, Amelia keeps staring at the door in annoyance. Unfortunately, it looks just as closed as the one Lovi slammed shut when the blonde went to suggest they have a sleepover in the two brunette's room. "Just why is Grumpy so anti-social?!"

"How about you try and stop calling her «Grumpy»?" The door finally opens and reveals a half-naked Matthew. Amelia shrieks theatrically and starts laughing when her little brother blushes.

"Dude, look at those abs! Hockey training was a good idea." She chants and grins as his features turn yet a darker shade of red. The boy hurries to find a shirt to cover his sick-pack. "Hey, who do you think is showering in the other's room right now?" She adds and catches the pillow he throws her way. The stinking thing produces another cloud of dust, making the girl cough and throw it back at Mattie. "Seriously. I just wanted to go over there and have a pillow fight; but nooo. Grumpy just had to be all «fuck off»."

This time she doesn't catch the pillow in time and it hits her in the face. "You wanted to have a pillow fight in this rundown place?" Mattie easily proves his point which Amelia decides to ignore but somewhat still has to agree so the pillow flies to a corner in the room. "And stop pouting. Or I'll kick you out as well."

Throwing her arms up in desperation, Amelia whines he wouldn't and then defends herself: "And I'm not pouting." Mattie raises a sceptical eyebrow. "No, really! I'm actually starting to get pissed! Her shitty mood is starting to affect me. –And she can't drive." The blonde starts to list all the annoying things and her brother rolls his eyes as if she were just complaining about unimportant things but REALLY. "She has that ever-present scowl which is even worse than Mum's; and she still keeps bitching around even when Feli goes all lovey-dovey. She never laughs. She doesn't crack jokes. The only thing she actually does is curse. All. The. Time."

Folding her arms in annoyance, Amelia catches the small nod and the sideways glance of her brother and gladly interprets he agrees with her. Like most of the schools' students, actually. Even before they actually started hanging out, Amelia hear people gossip about Lovi but thought she was just another girl trying to act strong but failing miserably at it.

"But she didn't curse as often today." Matthew; the nice guy he is does his best to find something good in other people once again. Amelia shrugs her shoulders. She did realize but…

"But that doesn't make things any better! She clearly hates everything, everyone, and just about anything that isn't Feli, Tomatoes or her Dad. Where's the fun in that?!" Amelia sums her frustration up.

This road-trip sucks.

xxx

Matthew stares at his improvised breakfast which is about as improvised as everything concerning this IMPROVISED road-trip and wonders just how in the world he even got here.

It's not a surprise his sister would talk him into believing they were ALLOWED to borrow the car of a friend and Lovi learned driving in Italy by LEGAL means and now they met up to go grill marshmallows TONIGHT. But tonight turned out to be yesterday by now and the marshmallows are still far from any campfires.

Somehow the girls not only managed to steal a car; but also bought a year' worth of both; pasta and coffee beans along with some spare clothes, a tent, sleeping bags, a pot and some sort of coffee-machine which Matthew doesn't know how in the world it works. Seeing they don't know how long this trip will last, the boy is happy the girls remembered about him in their shopping-frenzy and bought two simple sweatshirts and baggy pants (and underwear of course; though it's the wrong size). However, he is uncertain how he should like their choice of pattern because one sweater has sleeping kitten on it and the other the American flag. –He decided to wear the later one backwards and state it's the latest fashion while using his Dad's influence on his wardrobe as an excuse.

Not that he doesn't like America; but he couldn't tag along with the girls without a little bit of quiet protest because they lied to him.

Matthew takes a bite of his sandwich prepared with more salami than bread and chews it quietly, listening in on the debate between his sister and Lovi. He rolls his eyes; surprised they could keep it up this long and looks at Feli to see how she deals with the bad vibes in the car. Crazy as it sounds, the auburn haired girl doesn't seem to mind and happily glances outside; every now and then comments about how pretty something is or another interesting thing she spotted on the way.

Though Lovi seems irritated every time Feli says something; Matthew knows his sister enjoys having someone next to her whose mind jumps around about just as much as hers.

Then; all of a sudden, said girl's mind jumps to the memory of something Matthew wishes is wouldn't: "Right. What was that thing you overheard again, Mattie? I didn't quite get that yesterday."

Shocked, the boy realizes his sister listened in on the whole conversation he didn't even WANT to have.

And remembered it. And somehow realized it actually concerned her.

Which, the boy knows, could only mean one thing: his sister won't shut up and she will come up with it again and again until he answers her every question.

"You don't remember what it was because I didn't tell Lovi." The boy tries to avoid the topic again and suggests they play a game instead and talk later. "Aren't you guys kinda bored by now?"

"Sì, it is starting to get boring." Feli agrees and asks what kind of game so Matthew tries to explain but his sister is faster:

"The one where you say a word and the next person needs to say a word starting with the first word's last letter!" She interrupts but Matthew gladly takes the excuse to avoid the topic he doesn't want to talk about for another half an hour or so.

"Right…" He shrugs; agreeing this one is also a good idea. After they explain it in more detail, Amelia decides he should start because it was «His idea». "How about… «Car»."

"Rabbit." Feli continues, apparently extremely motivated to do something.

Amelia follows with "Tacos" and Lovina suggests:

"Spaghetti" and they continue; Matthew coming up with random words while Feli mostly names animals; his sister foods and Lovi eventually starts listing plants. After some time, everyone's repertoire of words is used up and they start with random words again until it could almost be misunderstood for a conversation. A weird one.

"Agree." Lovi states but Feli struggles to find a word.

"Err..." She tries

Amelia doesn't really mind and continues with R: "Really?"

And Matthew agrees: "Yeah."

After that Lovi continues with "Hawaii." And Amelia coos happily.

"Italy!" Feliciana shouts just as happily and Amelia rolls her eyes:

"You again..."

Its Lovi's turn with N: "Nowhere."

And then Feli's who still doesn't know any words with E. "...ED"

"Dumbass!" Lovi shouts, even though it's not her turn; and gives her friend a scolding look who innocently shrugs her shoulders while Amelia continues:

"Sexually frustrated!"

Now it's Matthew's turn to roll his eyes. "That's two words..."

"Three!" His sister points out his own mistake. "And you just used T instead of D. Mattie's out!"

"That's stupid!" The boy defends himself. "You would've been game over a long time ago! And you started with a T too!"

Lovi doesn't really seem to care about the siblings' fighting and decides the last letter O counts: "Ouch." She shrugs and looks at Feli.

"H… Hans?" The auburn haired continues and Amelia; almost sticking to the rules this time asks:

"`S'that?"

So Lovi explains: "Tumbass."

But Feli complains again: "Stop it!" The girl ignores the rules as well and explains the boy is her brother who lives in some sort of boarding school and can't visit his family very often.

While Lovi makes it obvious she doesn't like the boy, Feli seems to be very fond of him as she starts telling them stories of their childhood and how she gifted him with a broom when he left and so on. All in all the things Feli tells them sound either made up or are just too cute to be true. Matthew isn't certain which one he should go with and Lovi's hateful comments about the boy aren't helpful.

"Are you guys alike?" He decides to ask instead and is surprised Feli tells him about their many, many differences.

"Oh, and he studies some old languages and…" the girl continues chattering but the language-part seems to catch Amelia's interest and she turns to look at her brother, making the boy feel uncomfortable.

"Speaking about different languages. What did Grumpy say to you? What did you understand? And what was it that bothered you since Friday?" Matthew wishes he could disappear but suddenly finds everyone's attention turning from Feli to himself and no matter how he tries to avoid the subject this time, his sister proves she IS her stubborn mother's daughter after all.

"So? What was it?" she asks again, set on getting her answer.

And so Matthew decides to just get it over with even though he knows he will hate himself for talking the moment he opens his mouth. "So… I kinda overheard the headmaster and the librarian talking about how our mother lost a bet and had to kiss her three worst enemies." He explains as fast as he can, then stares outside, acting as if nothing just happened.

He hears Lovina gasp next to him. Then curse quietly but colourfully. And is glad he; contrary to the Italian's belief, doesn't understand a word she says.

"What?!" It might have taken some time, but it seems his sister understood just as well as Lovi. Curse all the years they lived together and she could practise understanding his every word no matter how quietly he talks. "Holy SHIT!" She shrieks and the car slows to a stop.

The car gets all quiet for a moment but then Lovi seems to have recovered from the shock and realize they just stopped in the middle of a crossroad. Which means honking, cursing drivers and cars sliding to a halt. The traffic stops.

"Start fucking driving! And then get out if you can't so much as drive a fucking car!" Her voice cracks and sounds a pitch higher than usual; but other than that the boy couldn't differ her confusion from her usual displeased expression.

Contrary to his sister who is in obvious shock; still processing the news, Lovi takes control of the wheel and keeps ordering Amelia to continue driving so Lovi can safely navigate them to a parking space.

"Wait. THREE?!" Amelia snaps out of her state of shock as the whole message starts to sink in. "Oh. My. God." She stumbles outside as soon as the car stops. "Mum kissed GIL?! THE Gilbert?!" She switches places with Feli and slides on the backseat next to Matthew; Lovi takes over the driver's seat and Feli sits down next to her. "That's disgusting."

The boy mirrors her horrified expression. "Yeah. With the whole school watching." Amelia gags and Matthew would like to join in but he's still too freaked out by the story.

"Eeeh? So that means your Mum kissed your Dad; and Ludwig's brother, and Lovi's Dad?" Feli asks and starts chattering about what the other teenagers in the car think is the weirdest kind of way to interpret this crazy story: "So that means she kissed her future husband. Oh, maybe that's when she fell in love with him!"

"Spare us the details." Amelia grumbles but seems to relax now that she can just think about it as their parent's kissing and ignore the fact there were two other people… Never mind.

Matthew likes the idea and tries to erase the unimportant details of his parent's first kiss.

A sad, concerned "Vee" turns the sibling's attention from the kiss to the girl driving. Sitting with her face stony and expressionless, Lovi keeps her eyes fixed on the street and only growls: "And they will never learn we know that." Then she shrugs her shoulders, voice sounding cold: "Not like I've got anything to do with it."

Silence follows her words, everyone following their own thoughts. Matthew tries to see Lovi's expression through her reflection in one of the mirrors or windows but doesn't succeed. Yet he can't help worrying over her suddenly cold attitude and how lonely she looks from his seat in the back; like she needed a warm hug but would push everyone away who would try.

And he is certain his sister was right. There IS more to the grumpy girl than her distant mask. And somehow he finally understands why his Mother and Lovina became friends.

xxx

Alice stares at the empty seat where Luca would usually sit.

She was surprised when her boss and friend texted her early in the morning but thankful the message woke her up because otherwise she might have overslept. Lack of sleep for days never turns out well and a foggy mind doesn't help one understand what is going on either.

So she just answered to Luca's next question about her first kiss; messed-up first kiss and now Luca is absent from work, leaving the blonde wonder what happened. And if it has anything to do with Luca's question and Alice's honest, detailed answer to it. The Englishwoman takes out her phone to read over the text message she wrote:

«I went drinking with the THOSE three idiots. We somehow got dragged in a fight between two other idiots and the whole thing ended in a drinking contest. Sadik, Tio and Gil versus Tim, Francis and me. For some messed up reason the whole thing escalated, we lost but Francis decided the penalty for the looser; which said I had to kiss the other team's members. Sadik, engaged in another fight with Tim didn't care and Francis volunteered for his stand in.

«Stupid story, but that's about what happened.»

Alice growls and hides her face in her hands, cursing herself. Just WHY did her sleep-deprived self write her boss a sum up of her worst high-school experience?

To her surprise, the phone vibrates and Alice looks at the screen to read Luca's answer.

«I see. Not very romantic.»

Alice is glad to read the simple answer and is about to put the phone away when it buzzes once again.

«Btw, I'm not coming today; M is going crazy. SB broke in T's house.»

Shaking her head, Alice places the gadget down and takes out a note to remind herself to write Martina and see how she is doing. And if she didn't go completely nuts it might really be the best idea to get her wasted. And make sure Luca gets a Martina-free evening to relax.

The screen lights up to show another message but the Englishwoman only glances at it.

«T's car is missing. Saw it?»

xxx

Lost on a street somewhere between one city and another bunch of houses, an old car drives through the forest connecting the two places with four teenagers inside bored of seeing trees, trees and more trees.

"Lemme drive!" Amelia pouts from the backseat once again and is bluntly ignored by Lovina. She swore to herself she won't answer no matter how many times the She-Bastard asks.

"No, no and again: no" keeping her eyes on the streets, the brunette does her best to ignore out the other girl's whining and not answer either. Even when the She-Bastard starts complaining she would fall sick if she had to endure another hundred metres of Lovina's driving. "Stop faking!" the brunette shouts.

"I'm not!" The She-Bastard shouts back and continues complaining and grumbling and being just her fucking annoying self. "So stop that car!"

"Not gonna happen." Lovina speeds past another car driving as slow as a damned slug. "I've got more experience."

"But you suck."

"No I don't!" And so they kept shout-fighting over who could drive next; Lovina completely forgetting her «no talking to the she-bastard»-policy again and again; and Amelia happy to have found something to do. _Matteo_ stares outside and Feli hums some weird tune about boiling hot water to cook pasta, which Lovina is certain she just makes up on the spot. Still, it's all fucking annoying and she would love to jump out of this car with three idiots but she doesn't want to walk.

And doesn't want to think.

Not that it mattered.

" _Chazzo_!" Lovina curses loudly when some stupid driver appears out of no-where at a crossroad appearing out of no-where and the car screeches to a stop. Then continues driving through no-where. "Ok, now I'm officially feeling sick." The She-Bastard announces. "I am positive I'll throw up any minute." She growls to add dramatic feel.

Lovina shakes her head in disbelief. "Sure. Like I'd believe after you told us about those rollercoasters? Boasted how many rides you could do on one day? –One more comment and I'll throw you out the car." She snorts drily and keeps her eyes on the street to make sure there aren't any other suddenly appearing vehicles around.

But in between looking at the empty street ahead and the trees they pass by, the brunette can't help but glance at the rear-view mirror, trying to figure out if the blonde is actually being serious. When she was talking a few minutes before, one look at the She-Bastard wasn't enough to figure out if the whole rollercoaster story was made up or not. It sounded very real, because the girl has this very realistic way of describing thrilling experiences... But right now the blonde is actually kinda green around the nose, making the brunette unsure if the whole thing was made up and Amelia really has car sickness.

"Lovi... could you pull over somewhere?" A small voice from behind gives Lovina the excuse she needed and she starts looking for a place to stop the car; but asks for a reason why she needed to, first. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Just say you gotta pee!" The not-helpful other blonde pipes in and ducks away when her brother boxes tries to hit her upside the head.

"Where the fuck do you expect me to stop?" The brunette turns her attention from the irritating duo to take a look outside where she spots nothing but forest. Trees as far as the eye can see.

"So what? Boys can pee standing up." Amelia; suddenly full of energy again; points out and starts to look around half-excitedly and asks Feliciana to take out the Marshmallows when they stop. Then she apparently gets distracted by another thought "Hey! Why do you pull over when HE asks you to? And, like, immediately?!"

"'Cause you're annoying" _M…_ Her brother… coughs and this time Amelia successfully boxes him in the gut. Unfortunately, Lovina choses this exact moment to stop the car and the vehicle halts more abruptly than she had planned.

"Yay. Now I REALLY need to puke..." The She-Bastard groans and swings the car door open to dash around the next trees. "Don't go pee over there!" She shouts and a disgusting sound confirms she WAS feeling car sick.

Uncomfortable she didn't realize Amelia wasn't faking it, Lovina hops out of the car and looks around the forest; trying to figure out just what they were supposed to do here.

And decides they should better continue driving. Before any creepy bugs appear.

xxx

Due to obvious reasons, Amelia turns the car's keys between her fingers with a triumphant smile.

"Just start driving." Grumpy grumbles from behind her and the blonde rolls her eyes at the fun spoiler. The brunette has NO patience; no sense of humour and doesn't even get it when someone is enjoying the moment.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Amelia grumbles back; her good mood immediately falling to below zero and her motivation for this whole road-trip slowly but surely starting to fade.

She turns the key and waits for the engine to start but nothing happens. Amelia frowns and tries again; and again without any success.

"Can't even start a car?" Grumpy grumbles AGAIN and Amelia; frustrated but realizing it really isn't working just agrees. "Stop joking."

"I'm not. The car isn't starting." She raises her hands in defence but Grumpy doesn't believe her. "Why don't you just try it yourself then!" Amelia grumbles.

"Just what I had in mind." Grumpy raises from her seat and struggles to reach the key, tries and turns it and nothing happens. " _Vafancullo_."

Content it didn't work again, Amelia folds her arms. "Told you so."

"Well, excuse me, but just who kept talking about roller coasters but gets car sick?!" Grumpy bites back and Amelia is about to counter attack but Feli stops them and points towards Mattie. Narrowing her eyes, Amelia looks at her brother looking all shaken by the little conflict.

"Did we maybe forget to switch the radio off?" He asks and the two girls look at the small button.

"The radio was on?" Grumpy asks. Amelia shakes her head. She didn't hear it play.

Feli agrees. "No radio. But what about the lights?"

"They were off from the beginning." Lovi ascertains. However, Amelia is positive they were switched on when she drove. "But it's day time. I never use them during day time."

Amelia is certain that is a no. "But you should." She corrects and earns an angry comment. "In other words we forgot to switch off the lights. Because I switched them on and Grumpy here forgot to turn them off." Shaking her head, Amelia opens the door to get out.

"So it's my fault now?!" Grumpy follows behind her. "And don't call me Grumpy!"

At that, the blonde can only snort. "You are ALWAYS grumpy. Why shouldn't I call you grumpy? You hate everything fun, you get pissed about everything and you hate everyone: your classmates, your best friend and even your own father!" Amelia, pissed that that girl destroyed everyone's road-trip as well as the good mood, shouts the thoughts which nagged her since she met the girl.

"Sais the one who treats her brother like shit; runs away from home and doesn't talk to her mother for weeks. Do you even know she stands at the kitchen window EVERY evening and waits for you to come home?!" The brunette shouts back and the blonde doesn't like how this road-trip-related fight ended up concerning her mother.

"That is none of your concern." Amelia grumbles and folds her arms, her nails digging in her arm. She isn't ready to talk about the problems with her mother. "You don't know the whole story. You don't know about the years of fighting."

"And you don't know about the years of lies!" To her surprise, Grumpy suddenly turns from angry to screaming with tears in her eyes. Confused, she watches the tears increase and not stop running. "He isn't even my fucking father!" Though Grumpy shouts the words, her voice almost breaks and sounds weak and hurt.

Standing in shock while trying to understand the situation, the blonde watches the other girl's outburst increase, uncertain what to do. She just stands and stares. Feli appears in her field of vision, grabs Lovi's hands and pulls her through the trees- Amelia keeps staring until she can't see the other girls any longer, then her legs give in.

"Sis?!" She finally registers Mattie at her side. Slowly, she turns her head to face her brother to ask what just happened but all she can say is: "He's not?" Remembering how the brunette told her she didn't know who her mother is, Amelia feels warm tears run down her cheeks. "Then who is?" Voice breaking down to a whisper, she asks: "Does she not even know her real father?"

Mattie doesn't answer. He just places his arm around her shoulder so she can collect herself.

"Can you help me up?" Amelia asks and Mattie re-adjusts his arm so he can pull her up. The girl rubs her tears away and follows the small path of broken branches further inside the forest.

xxx

Only the wind rustling in the leaves and the occasional bird's song accompany her sister's sobs. Feliciana pats her _Sorellona's_ back and holds the other girl close to her, glad the other girl finally showed Feliciana her pain.

The unusual mood swings and her negative mood these last days kept worrying the younger twin as she felt her sister was only trying to forget everything. Especially how she really feels. And though Feliciana has known this habit of Lovina's for many years already, she was always relieved when Lovina could no longer hold it in and finally succumbed to her real feelings as she did now.

That the breakdown would happen during a fight however is new and Feliciana wouldn't have expected Amelia would be the trigger this time. Usually, it was either Feliciana herself or _Zio_ Tonio.

Because Lovi still avoids _Zio_ Tonio, Feliciana hoped she could get her sister to accept her feelings of sadness during this road trip. And in the end it did happen. Not the way she expected it, but in the end it lead to the same result.

With slow movements, Feliciana gently runs her fingers through Lovina's locks as she would always do and listen to the other girl cry until her shirt is soaked. Her fingers stop and the girl needs to disentangle a few strains first, then continues caressing Lovina.

A branch breaks nearby but the teenager doesn't react and just quietly waits for Amelia and Matthew to arrive and stand at her side. Then she glances up and her eyes meet Amelia's ones which she realizes are wet and filled with worry and concern. Feliciana answers them with a small smile then turns her attention back to Lovina.

Finally able to show her pain over the loss of her dearest person. Her uncertainty over the future and the gaps in her past. Feliciana remembers the nights she cried herself to sleep, missing people she never even met and she feels this loneliness rise now as well.

Feliciana realizes she started crying when Amelia slowly squats down next to her and gently pats her back. Matteo awkwardly sits down on her other side but doesn't do nor say anything. Lovina shifts under Feliciana's arms but the girl soothes her: " _Tutto va bene. Tutto va bene_."

"…" Lovina grumbles something her sister doesn't understand but already knows by heart what it means. " _Stellina_." With a small chuckle, starts quietly singing the lullaby her parents taught her and _Zio_ Tonio taught Lovina; and somehow everytime one of the twins felt sad, they would end up singing this song together:

" _Brilla brilla la Stellina. Su nel cielo piccolina_..." she hums the verses she knows by heart; a song the sisters learned from their parents despite the fact they didn't know any Italian. Now, after many years singing it again, Feliciana finally understands why they taught them the song in their parent's language.

Amelia recognizes the melody and Mateo glares at her so she keeps her mouth shut but Feliciana can see the other girl has a difficult time staying quiet and neither humming nor singing «Twinkle twinkle little star». Instead, the blonde girl places a hand on Lovina's back which the other realizes and shifts to look the other way; growling in complaint.

But even knowing of somebody else's presence, the brunette continues sniffling and Feliciana continues singing. When she repeats the song, Amelia starts humming and the third time _Matteo_ gives in and joins as well. The fourth time, the two English-natives try singing along with the Italian version and fail miserably; though Feliciana has to agree _Matteo_ does a better job compared to his sister's horrible accent.

She even manages to have Lovina mix her sobs with snorts until it ends in the brunette snickering in her sister's arms; eyes still wet but now because of a confusing mix of humour and sadness. "Your Italian sucks." Are the first words with which Lovina addresses the other teenagers.

"And your driving sucks." Amelia immediately fires back, but with a gentle voice.

Shifting to turn and look to where the voice came from, Lovina glances at the other girl and continues: "At least I can read traffic signs."

"I can too!" Amelia defends; now more alert and defensive; completely falling for Lovina's scheme.

The brunette, Feliciana knows, pulls an unimpressed face and raises a sceptical eyebrow. "Sais the one who directly entered a dead-end." She reminds the other girl; voice flat and matter-of-fact. Feliciana snickers. Matteo rolls his eyes, finally understanding what is going on but Amelia seems lost.

"That… I didn't see that sign!" She defends herself and blushes once she realizes the brunette's snickering. "You…! Wait, you actually DO laugh! Do you, like, crack jokes too?"

Trying to dry her cheeks with her sleeve, Lovina shifts to sit in a way she faces the other three. "I prefer cynicism."

Amelia rolls her eyes, then pulls off her best pouting face complaining: "And here I thought Christmas is around the corner."

"Well" Matteo decides to join the awkward conversation. "I don't want to be a fun spoiler, sis. But I wouldn't want to go camping with you in December." He looks around the forest and the girls do the same, finally remembering where they are and will stay until somebody discovers their car.

"It's not that bad." Feliciana remembers how to save the day and happily explains she wrote Hans a letter and when he receives it he will most likely alert her parents and they will all come to find them and…

"When did you write a letter?!"

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Just me 1:**

 **So… I spent three weeks trying to write this chapter but ended up deleting everything and instead finished it in one day.**

 **Which gave me less time to adjust everything but it was also kinda nice to just have the story develop itself. Didn't happen in a long time! (So it feels kinda random to me; but then again they're teenagers on a roadtrip. And no road-trip ever gets boring exactly because you do different things)**

 **Still, I'd be really glad for some feedback for this chapter!**

 **Thank you in advance! :)**

 **xxx**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Chazzo_ = Shit

 _Vafancullo_ = shit

 _Sorellona_ =Older Sister

 _Zio_ = Uncle

 _Tutto va bene_ =It's all right.

 _Stellina_ = Little Star

 _Brilla brilla la Stellina. Su nel cielo piccolina_ = (Italian version of «Twinkle twinkle little Star»)

 **xxx**

 **Just me too:**

 ***insert wiiiide grin smiley* XDDD**

 **And HERE comes the first part about the parent's past I had planned out AGES (or months…) ago!**

 **Some more details about what exactly happened and how the different people perceived it will follow…**

 **Just as many other things will now start to unfold! Look forward to some more fights… And finally people making up as well!**

 **And with that I wish you a lovely week!**

 **-Himawari**


	49. This road-trip rocks!

"So." Amelia states, unhappily staring at her smartphones' screen un-awesomely displaying the no-signal sign. "In short we are still stuck here." Then she slops down on a random stone, desperate because this road-trip could actually suck even more than she thought in the morning!

"Lovely." Lovina, voice now obviously dripping with sarcasm says the first nice word Amelia ever heard her say. The blonde rolls her eyes and looks at Grumpy who in turn stares at the sky with a displeased expression. "It's already getting dark." Her annoyed figure is far from the sniffling bundle she was about half an hour ago. And from the snappish comments she came up with after that.

It was quite a shock to learn of the other girl's family situation; which is completely different to her own but in the end similarly fucked up. It was an even greater shock to see Lovina cry. And it was THE greatest shock of all times when Grumpy; GRUMPY cracked a joke.

However, after that magical moment, the usual annoyed expression returned to the brunette's features. "The car just HAD to break down in fucking nowhere…" Lovina grumbles.

Amelia takes one more look at Grumpy to see if she is really as pissed as she seems at first glance. Because, though at first glance she returned to be her usual grumpy self again, but at a second glance... Since Lovi's breakdown her cranky comments seemed to decrease.

Right now the brunette stands, arms folded over her chest and eyebrows furrowed, looking at the sky and then down at the darkening space between the trees. When she does, it almost looks as if she flinches. And then shivers. Then shakes her head. And turns to look the other way.

Amelia doesn't get the time to try and think what the reason for that could be because Matthew appears next to her. "But it's not like that's the first time we encountered a situation like this." He hums and brings her thoughts back. Amelia blinks up at him, then look around.

Tree, tree, tree… Tge only difference she can make out is when one looks taller than the other next to it. Yay.

Forest. Trees as far as the eyes can see. Some stones here and there; and through the trees to their right it looks like there's a small meadow. It could be perfect for… Finally, memories of the most amazing summers in her childhood start make her look at things differently.

Stones, dry branches, a clearing with lush green grass... add a pocket knive, some inches of rope and a tarpaulin. Ut was all she and Mattie needed back then.

Far from their parent's bickering, fighting and flirting, the young siblings spent weeks camping in forests, mountains and just about any place in nature where life was possible. Often enough they even had to improvise a hammock to sleep between some trees. "Heck yes!" Amelia jumps up and, forgetting he was standing there, collides with her brother's chest. The boy curses quietly and his sister starts laughing, this time purposely crash into him to hug him. "The Pathfinders!"

When she releases the flustered boy, she grins up at him: "Ready for another crazy day lost in the woods?" Mattie reflects her grin, eyes sparkling. Amelia almost squeaks in excitement at his words. Matthew chuckles, his soft expression rivalling even the cutest teddy-bear. That is, until another person's annoyed feature appear behind him and ruin the picture.

"How is this" Grumpy points at the tree next to her. "Supposed to be a situation to be all hearts and smiles?!" she demands.

Amelia is more than happy to explain: "This is PERFECT! We can build up our tent over there; and make a fire, and grill Smores, and sing songs all night and…" She witters on, mixing up happy childhood-memories with plans for tonight; pathfinder-camps with a runaway-road-trip.

"If you're dead set on staying here…" Grumpy buts in to interrupt the blonde's happy string of thoughts and rolls her green eyes. "I'll sleep in the car. Feliciana!" Then the brunette walks away.

WALKS AWAAAY; unaware of what she will miss!

"Wait!" Amelia darts after her and grabs the other girl's hand to pull her back. "You phone's got reception?" Grumpy stops to fish out the gadget, check and shake her head no. "Perfect. Let's go look if we got more luck over there!" She starts pulling the girl with her and heads through the forest, quickly stopping to wink at Mattie who understands and turns to talk to Feli.

xxx

After the fucking she-lost-count time she stumbled over a stupid stone put at the wrong place, Lovina would love to entertain Amelia with her multilingual collection of curses and complaints. But the blonde sparkling at every fucking leave she sees, the Italian remembers, is unable to remember other languages than English even exist wouldn't care.

Though Lovina isn't THAT sure whether Amelia really doesn't understand or just decides to ignore everything the brunette grumbles under her breath.

So she decided keep cursing to a minimum.

And; maybe; because the She-Bastard might have just showed her she actually cares about people other than herself.

"Will you look at that!" Lovina following after Amelia looks up from her phone to see the blonde sparkling at her and pointing to a stream. Irritated by the sunrays framing the other girl's figure and painting a golden hue on the blond locks, the brunette curses Amelia's genetic inheritance once more. She pushes thoughts of jealousy aside and heads to the water. "I told you not to worry. Mattie and I survived in the woods many times already. We know every hack you need to survive. –And to have fun. So, hand me the bottles? Please." The girl stretches her hand out and Lovina drops the bag Amelia made her carry to the ground.

"And why exactly did I have to carry all these stupid bottles here?!" Lovina tries her best to sound angry. It was pretty humiliating the She-Bastard saw her like THAT and all and it made Lovina feel like a damsel in distress which made her frustrated. She needed an outlet for that frustration. So…

"Because I'm gonna carry them back now that they're filled with water." Amelia beams back at her, successfully ignoring the fake-venom in her company's voice. "Didn't want you to carry the heavy bag. Sorry I pushed the bag with the empty bottles at you though." She continues chattering away as if it were the most natural thing to do after somebody just bitched around for no real reason. Of course she can also fill bottle after bottle at the same time as talking. Then throws them on the ground, stuffs them in the backpack and finally slops down on the grass next to the stream.

Lovina stares at the girl relaxing on the meadow in sceptical confusion. Amelia realizes, grins up at her and pats the grass next to her. "You… Never mind." Lovina rolls her eyes and does as told. Just this once.

The grass is soft and the brunette quickly finds a comfortable position sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She glances at Amelia relaxing next to her waiting for the blonde to speak but after some time realizes even the She-Bastard could keep quiet and just enjoy a moment like this.

A moment of just staring at the water of a small stream flowing through grey stones; bubbling gently. Some birds singing along the wind rustling in the leaves. The setting sun's light falls through the trees, dipping the forest into magical light.

The Italian snorts at her own trail of thoughts that just sounded SO Feli-like. Wondering if she is actually adapting her twin's way of thinking, Lovina knows she would gladly complain if Feliciana used such a cheesy description.

"Just imagine…" Lovina explains because she knows Amelia is glancing at her, curious why she would start laughing all of a sudden. "How _Matteo_ would describe this image." Lovina points at the stream.

The blonde snorts. Then starts giggling; still not speaking a word. Uncertain how to react to a not-talking-bullcrap-all-the-time She-Bastard, Lovina looks at the girl snickering next to her and is met with blue eyes sparkling in amusement and lips pressed together as if she tried to hold her laughter in for a split second before she bursts out laughing.

"… Sorry…" The blonde manages between giggles. "But your face was" Another snort escapes her "just so dead serious… but… something random like… that!" she continues laughing. "I don't even get if you were trying to be serious or funny or…" FINALLY Amelia stops laughing; staring into space as if trying to think of an answer by herself while Lovina is tempted to empty all the bottles over the blonde's head. "Well… Your humor sucks."

"I hate you…" Lovina hits the blonde's shoulder but the She-Bastard doesn't seem to care. "I told you I have my own way of cracking jokes. –And so what if I'm not grinning stupidly all the time."

"Aww, don't worry. I kinda hate you too." The She-Bastard sits back up and interrupts the complaint Lovina is about to throw at her by ruffling her brown hair. The Italian squeaks in surprise, complaint forgotten. "I don't get you and you're were grumpy 8 out of 9 times I met you. –Ignoring the times when we were kids. But I'm positive we'll eventually get along." Her positive smile and reassuring thumps-up gesture almost make the brunette agree but then the blonde continues: "If even lovely Feli can get along with somebody as grumpy as you, it can't be THAT hard, can it?"

It is that moment Lovina internally face palms and decides the She-Bastard is a lost case. Tries her best to say something nice but just messes up the moment the nice thoughts leave her mouth.

xxx

Content, Matthew looks at the small fireplace he and Feli managed to create. It was mostly his work though, because Feli danced off to fetch the cooking utensils one by one in between collecting branches. In the end they gathered enough wood to prepare the fireplace.

Other times Feli would return with bundles of wood, green branches mixed with old, dry branches as well as tiny sticks or ones that were as big as a tree. In the end they had everything necessary for a perfect campfire. Because she was literally beaming and happily commenting what felt like every branch she found, Matthew just let Feli be and continue collecting wood as he continued to arrange the useful ones.

" _Mateo_ , _Mateo_ , look, I found another rock!" The girl announces and it lookes like she seriously struggles to carry the grey object. Then Feli almost stumbles and Matthew quickly gets up to support her. "Vee~ _Grazie_." She beams at him.

"Lemme get that." He effortlessly takes the heavy stone and carries it back to the fireplace to set it down between two other stones. "Looks ready to be lit." He smiles, content with their work and hears Feli agree happily.

"I'll go get the lighter." The girl commentes and Matthew watches her with a chuckle as the auburn haired girl dashes off back to the car. "Here!" She sing-songs woth a bright smile on her face. The boy has to sigh at the perfectly harmonious moment.

The first one since they started this cursed road-trip.

"What's the matter?" The girl squats down next to him and gives him a concerned look.

Absentmindedly taking the lighter she hands him, the blonde sighs again. "Just thinking either Lovi or Amelia must be dead by now." Feli's expression turns from concern to extreme worry. "No, sorry, I mean… Not dead as… literally dead." He struggles for the right words. "I just mean… They hate each other. It just worries me to think they're by themselves, arguing all the time."

Now her worried look morphs to one of confusion. "Why would that be? I think they're getting along pretty well."

Hearing this, Matthew now feels just as confused as the girl looks. "Why would they get along? –I mean, I know Sis didn't really mean the things she said but… Doesn't your sister hate her to death? It's understandable though. Amelia can be quite overwhelming, annoying and… well; Amelia." The boy continues and stops to correct himself. They're not sisters. Just Feli and Lovi.

Feli tilts her head. "No?" Thinking, she brings a finger up to her mouth and absentmindedly stares into the distance. "No." Her eyes focus back at the boy. "I'm positive they're getting along well. But I'm sure my sister is overwhelmed by her but once she gets over it…" Now a distant smile. "To me it looks like my _Sorellona_ has found herself a new friend."

Her positive attitude somewhat calms the boy, but he isn't all too sure if she is right. However, Feli starts setting up a cooking grate and places a pot on it and Matthew interprets the topic's closed for her. Or, rather she is so convinced what she just said is the absolute thought, she doesn't realize somebody else might think otherwise.

And, just maybe, she's right?

As he wonders, the blonde watches Feli bring over a crate of tomatoes and start slicing them before he continues to prepare the fire.

Matthew tries to reflect on the last times he met Lovi. Grumpy is the first word that comes to his mind when he thinks about her. Grumpy indeed: Her expression stern; her voice angry and her choice of words mostly holding unpleasant meanings. In short; just Grumpy. However, his irritation about her almost only communicating that way gives him this weird feeling he misses something about her.

After all there were these moments that were different. Like when she started crackling after his senior hockey player's half-serious attempt to flirt with his sister. Using a bobby pin as excuse…

And especially the evening they all had pancakes together.

That one evening, Grumpy was happy, and Antonio was happy and his sister was happy; laughing alongside his mother who seemed to be quite happy as well.

Looking back, everyone was just too happy to be real... And if Lovi could mask her insecurities about her Father with both; a smile like last Thursday and an uninterested attitude like today... It wouldn't be surprising if she masked everything else with a frown.

Not letting people see the real Lovi.

Matthew turns to watch Feli, trying to recognize Lovi's features in the auburn haired girl's. Which proves to be a lot easier than he first thought, because her relaxed expression looks similar to the brunette's.

So similar it's understandable his sister won't shut up about them being... wait... "Wait." He stops, remembering how the Italian herself talked about Lovi as her «sister». "So you are sisters?"

The boy intently watches the girl next to him innocently continue to slice tomatoes. At first glance, it looks like she didn't hear him because he can't make out a reaction. Then he realizes the tiny smile and the sparkle in her eyes and just knows. "Long story?" Matthew asks quietly. Feli drops her head in a barely visible nod. "Want someone to take the time and listen to it?" And he wonders if he should add he won't tell anyone.

" _Sì_ " The girl's face finally splits into a wide grin and she starts unraveling the tale of the lost twins. Her chatters fill the evening air as the fire begins to crackle and the Italian only stops every now and then to check if she prepared enough tomatoes and then puts the pot on the cooking grate. Her chatter resumes as she starts stirring. Matthew quietly listens to her talk on and on excitedly; her colorful way of talking a refreshing difference to his sister's overdramatic narrating style.

xxx

So, the last half an hour or so hasn't been that bad. Xept when they finally got reception and tried to call… well, anybody… turns out everyone was either asleep or their batteries must've run out because, seriously, there's no way people would shut their phones off during night-time like her mum does.

"Hey, you see that, Lovi?" Amelia cheers when she spots the small orange light, content they finally found their way back. "If that's a fire, Imma SO down for those Smores or I'll starve." She imagines G… Lovi rolling her eyes because she «said she'd collapse of hunger a hundred times already.»

" _Trenta uno._ " She hears her comment the correct number instead but doesn't bother trying to understand what she knows certainly isn't English. Luckily, something else catches Grumpy's attention "Oh. The pasta smells _perfetta_!"

Though it might not be English either, Amelia supposes she would always understand this, because she smells it too. "Sweet!" The blonde bounces over some roots and laughs at the brunette curse behind her because the other girl didn't see them in the dim light. "Those two started preparing dinner!" Lovi's hair is caught in some branches and the girl suppresses a surprised squeak with some random curse. Amelia laughs openly and can't resist to make another joke about how scared the bad-mouthed girl seems to be of a mere forest. "Hope the yummy smell won't attract any predators." She snickers.

Another curse follows and Amelia easily evades the fist Lovi tries to box her shoulder with. "Good we still have you around to keep them busy though." The Italian flatly responds. "Well, there's more to share if they catch you."

The light grows closer and the two shapes next start to take shape. "Are you implying that I'm fat?!" Amelia snaps back and one of the silhouettes seems to flinch visibly but relax when they hear the laughter following the complaint. "Or…" Amelia singsongs; doing her best in imitating her dad's cursed dramatic flair. "Are you actually just jealous of my gorgeous figure?" Swinging her hips to emphasize, this time she can't evade Lovi's hand and the other girl successfully makes her stumble to the side.

"No!" She stutters. "I'm not. And… After all…" Amelia tries to get back up on her feet, amused at the realisation provoking Grumpy a bit makes her reveal her real thoughts. "If you're trying to impress someone with your completely unfair proportions, ghosts might react better to them than carnivores."

Oh. "Nooo!" Eyes wide at the realisation, Amelia immediately darts towards the two silhouettes she was sure were Mattie and Feli… Or were there three? Just now, were there?

The laughter behind her sounds maniacal.

One of the shapes gets up, creepy face lit by the fire's flames dancing. "Oh, Amelia! Lovi!" The grimace disappears; horror immediately forgotten at the prospect of food and all Amelia sees is Feli's happy smile. "Perfect! Now I can put the pasta in the water and dinner will be ready in a bit! _Matteo_ , could you stir the _salsa_ again?" But Amelia is faster and steals the wooden spoon from her brother to taste and try and…

"Delicious!" She melts at the perfect taste of tomatoes and whatever kind of herbs and spices master cook Feli put in there.

The moment, sweet as it is doesn't last too long though. "Gimme that." Amelia feels the wood taken from her hand and stares at the empty fingers first, then tries to get it back from the thief. "Try me." Lovina dares her and after all the shit that happened today, the blonde gladly takes the invitation. She might not get her pillow fight while they're stuck in the wood, but she's SO down for chasing Lovina through that damned forest hunted with predators, ghosts and whatnot if there's Smores, Feli's heavenly pasta and a cup of perfectly roasted coffee in it.

In the light of the campfire, the blonde dashes after the brunette and counts the seconds till the other girl stumbles but has to realize this doesn't just happen when there's enough light to actually see where you're walking so she just leaps at Lovina instead. The girl squeaks in surprise and her opponent fishes for the spoon. "Nooo!" Lovi tries to wave it ought of her reach but of COURSE stands no chance to Amelia's tickle-attack she's perfected on her brother.

Then she dashes back to the campfire to dip the spoon in the sauce, stare at the perfect and HUGE campfire with… Way too many stones… But who cares!

"We got a fire, food and a tent! Who needs more!" Amelia shouts her happiness into the night when she feels a little tug at her hand.

"That." In front of the blonde's shocked eyes, the wooden spoon disappears in Lovi's mouth and the girl looks overly content. However, she doesn't see Feli standing behind her, ready with a set of forks and spoons for everybody.

Amelia snorts. "This road-trip rocks!" she giggles and tries to snatch the wooden cooking utensil back once more.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Italian:**

 _Grazie_ = Thank you

 _Sì_ = Yes

 _Trenta uno_ = Thirty-one

 _Perfetta_ = Perfect

 _Salsa_ = Sauce

 **xxx**

 **Just me:**

 **That moment when you just DON'T feel like writing at all and so on… And then realize you're already behind your personal schedule :( Sorry. I didn't manage to finish the chapter for another week.**

 **These last siblings-(aka Road-trip)-chapters were more difficult to write than I expected but I'm content. I think I managed to convey what I intended to. :D**

 **I wish you a lovely week and don't fight too much with your siblings! (*Me: glares at my sister… she be like: "Me? But I'm just sooo nice." And my other sister: "Always~")**


	50. The answer to all her questions

**A/N**

 **Chapter 50! Yaaay!**

 **I hope you enjoy it :D**

 **xxx**

 **Also, this chapter was horrible to write. I would like to know what you think about my writing in this chapter, PLEASE review. I'm worried my writing could be confusing to the readers. (And it's just always nice to get some feedback)**

 **Thank you in advance :)**

 **-Himawari**

 **xxx**

Through her dreamless sleep, a sound Alice barely hears finds its way to her foggy consciousness and reminds her of how late it is. The soft, beeping alarm becomes more annoying as Alice regains her awareness of here and now, the Englishwoman realizes it's time to get up. "Bloody hell." She curses these rarely occurring days she is too tired to get up before the alarm starts. Normally, at this time, she would already pour her first cup of tea.

Unfortunately there's no time for that today. The woman grumbles and reaches for her phone which, unsurprisingly, isn't sitting on her nightstand but who knows where instead. Alice demands her limbs to start moving as she pulls herself up and takes a sleepy look around her room.

The sound of her alarm clock is loud enough to be heard in the otherwise deadly quiet house. Alice groans, wondering how in the sparkling world of dreams and unicorns she ALWAYS manages to lose thing. In the worst of moments.

The half-awake woman takes a glance at her horrifying bedhead's reflection and wrinkles her nose at the thought of how long it will take her to tame this mess of hair to… as presentable a hairstyle as she can manage. Then she makes a bee-line for the porcelain cup in the hallway where she usually dumps all these things she tends to lose. "There you are." She fishes for the gadget and sighs upon seeing the number of text messages and missed calls.

Alice decides to take care of urgent matters first and pockets the phone to rush through room after room, to her car, to her office, to… Actually stop in front of the entrance and remember she forgot her damned cell phone in her pyjamas pocket.

"Oh curse these bloody…" the blonde starts and opens the door and finishes "Modern gadgets!" when she almost collides with Luca. "You look as horrible as I feel." Her mouth continues talking before Alice's thoughts can kick in and stop her. The Norwegian only glares at the Englishwoman who lifts her hands in defence and tries a sheepish look which doesn't work.

"Miss Kirkland," the other woman shakes her head but continues with a deadly glare: "I would kindly appreciate it if you would check your phone rather than curse it." And shoves her own smartphone at the blonde, then stalks away.

"Why, a good morning to you too…" The blonde grumbles and follows after her friend and superior whose mood seems to have considerably worsened overnight. The cause most likely the person who will call in a few sec… The phone's screen lights up to display some Nickname. "Hi; _Anko_?" Alice asks, more curious how Martina received the nickname rather than wondering who she is talking to.

"Alice! Thank Thor!" screams the voice on the other end of the phone "Where the heck… Never mind. Move your «arse» to the school grounds ASAP! And please tell me you WILL actually bring Amelia along?" adds the headmaster of Amelia's school much to the divorced mother's dislike. Alice quickly fabrics an excuse and explains the teenager stayed at a friend's place overnight. "You let your daughter stay overnight at a friend's place. In the middle of the week?" Martina asks, doubting. "Name and address of that friend?"

Seeing the eventual outcome of this conversation, Alice decides to end it as quickly and painlessly as possible: "Do I really have to tell you?" the blonde sighs and hopes she can drag out having to confess the painful truth.

Martina's immediate response " _Nej_." doesn't allow her to, so Alice finally confesses:

"Fine. She might have run away?" This time, the silence on the other end lasts a few painfully long moments and the Englishwoman waits for the shocked chatter that will follow it. Then turns on her heels to return to her car, get to that school and get it over with.

She listens to Martina nagging her and then randomly starting to complain about random things Alice doesn't care about while the Englishwoman herself resists the urge to start cursing about her daughter's new lifestyle. And Amelia's bad old habits.

It's only Wednesday; barely a week since the last time the headmaster called her. The last time she saw Amelia was only six days ago and the teenager behaved pretty well but apparently the girl already managed to mess up again.

xxx

Reluctantly, Antonio enters the school ground he would be banned from if not for the Danish headmaster's call. The Spaniard prays his daughter doesn't see him and misinterpret the situation. At the same time he prays this, he also asks the Saints to keep Lovi save.

Concerned the headmaster might have called him because something bad happened, Antonio almost runs over the place but freezes in his movement for a moment to confirm the person he just spotted…

Antonio shakes his head, for a moment convinced it's only a ghost created by his wishful thinking; his desire to have someone support him and be by his side right now. But then again… What if it really is her?

A warm feeling spreads in his stomach at the thought; a hope he saw right as he adjusts his pace to slowly approach the woman walking towards the building from the other side. Her features present themselves as beautiful as always with slim limbs and cute curves, perfected with an attractive outfit and short heels which clack over the school ground; the sound empathizing her beautifully determined expression. Face framed with blonde hair as rebellious as the woman herself and square glasses framing her intelligent eyes. Fascinated, the man watches as her focus shifts and recognition ghosts over her face. Her eyes turn icy the moment she spots him.

The glare painfully reminds him of their agreement to not get within each other's vicinity and he stops walking to wait for her to pass by first.

Alice's eye twitches and she looks at him for a bit; head tilted to the side, then clicks her tongue and takes a step forward as her pumps continue to click over the asphalt.

Confused, the Spaniard realizes his English crush approaches him rather than passing by or entering the school building. He takes a few steps backwards in an attempt to keep the defined distance but she quickly closes in to him and only stops when she stands directly in front of him and has to look up slightly, making him realize the minimal height difference between them. Almost eye to eye, she glares at him, close enough for him to touch her. Hug her. Or push her away, knowing daydreams are just dreams as well.

And reality always kicks in way to fast.

"Mister Carriedo." The Englishwoman addresses him, voice snappy. "It appears you find pleasure in giving me a headache." A frown accompanies her irritated look and voice. "How come you are always there when something goes wrong?!"

"I am afraid," The man adapts her distant way of speaking, ignoring how wrong it feels. "I, too, don't know what is going on this time." Because it might feel wrong, but after he messed everything up, the single parent is painfully aware he isn't allowed to hope… to find support in her. –Not anymore.

"Why what a pity." The blonde hisses, still standing close enough for him to smell the faint lilac perfume. "Yet it seems like you always know what is going on." She stresses the «always» and continues what he knows to be true: "While keeping others out. Curse your always-happy personality, when it comes to important things you just always mess up!"

But it's not like he wanted to keep everyone out. But the Spaniard learned years ago letting certain people come too close to him is impossible, no matter how much he wanted it.

Having her fight at his side, it's a dream he's long given up on.

xxx

Somewhere in the land of dreams, a sudden scream pulls a certain sleeping Italian back to the harsh reality: "Fiiiight!" Lovina snaps her eyes open and sits up in confused shock at the sudden shout. "Come on, Mattie! Move your pretty but!" The loudness of the words sink through the sleepiness and to her consciousness, but the meaning doesn't. Somehow, Lovina manages to recognize the false alarm and she drops back down on whatever she slept on again.

Blinks into the sunlight up at some green leaves rustling in the wind and…

The Italian closes her eyes again, wondering what stupid bull crap her sub consciousness mixed together to create a dream as stupid as herself sleeping in the middle of a forest, under the open sky, with the She-Bastard acting like a three-years old trying to get on her brother's nerves. And Feliciana next to her. And the smell of perfectly roasted coffee and fire and…

She giggles at the thought of how hilarious a dream but then reality strikes her like a star just dropped from the sky and hit her. And stuck there. Stuck between her brown locks, giving her a headache. " _Vafancullo_." The girl curses and turns over to try and block the morning lights out.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work because snuggling with a meadow isn't her thing at all and looking at some bug first thing in the morning isn't either and… "Nooo!" Lovina screams as she realizes it's not an ugly bug but a terrifying spider!

"What's the matter?!" Amelia runs to the screaming girl and Lovina immediately stops, not wanting to admit to the She-Bastard she is scared of a tiny animal.

"Nothing." She lies instead. Turns to look at the blonde girl acting all heroine-like and frowns. "Wait. There actually is. I just thought I saw something really horrible…" Lovina knits her brows, acting as if deep in thought while studying the other girl's features. "Oh. My mistake. I didn't realize it was just your face…" the brunette sighs and turns away, leaving Amelia stare at her in confusion. So, to help the stupid She- _Bastardo_ out, Lovina explains: "You know, I don't do well with Ugly first thing in the morning." She supports her words a gesture to outline Amelia's face.

Amelia gapes at her. Shares a look with _Mateo_ who shrugs his shoulders. Stares at Lovina again.

The brunette, by now standing at the fire and greeting her cute sister with a " _Buongiorno_." and a kiss on the cheek, whirls around when she hears the She-Bastard laughing behind her. With a wide grin, Amelia walks over to the two sisters.

Sunny laugher fills the air as she laughs the insult off. "You got me there." The blonde snickers, then wriggles her eyebrows: "Almost. Because, didn't you just praise my remarkable beauty yesterday?" and sneaks an arm around Lovina's shoulders. The brunette stares at her in fake-disgust. "Look at you! Cheeks a~l~l red! How cuteee~!" the blonde giggles and her eyes spark with amusement in a way Lovina can't really keep her frown up.

"At least I'm cute while you pass as… acceptable." Lovina grins and sticks her tongue out and rolls her eyes at Amelia's theatrically appalled gasp.

xxx

Through the whole cursed weekend he has been on her mind and at first the Englishwoman thought her eyes played a trick on her when she spotted him walking towards her.

Even from a distance his relaxed posture annoys her. Hands lazily stuffed in his pockets, he almost looks like he did during their high school days. Back then, his arms may have looked more muscular than today, but his frame is broader now. His facial features also became more distinct over the years and even from afar she can spot the worry on his face.

Anger rises at the sight of him looking like any worried father. Worried, as if it weren't his own damned fault everything went downhill.

Alice doesn't bother to hide her emotions and the man slows down until he stands still, eyes fixed at her and face calm, almost expressionless; but his eyes analysing as if trying to understand what she will do next.

The Englishwoman realizes she never thought about how she should act when she meets the cursed wanker. She tries to figure out if keeping the icy distance up or confronting him with all her hateful feelings would make more sense. Unfortunately, she can't settle on either until she stands right in front of him and all thoughts are no longer of any importance as anger, distrust and something else take over. She addresses the man, her voice openly displaying these feelings she can't put into words.

And while she does, she watches him to see his reactions to what she says; waits to hear his words of apology.

But he doesn't react at all. Just stands there; calm, face expressionless and eyes distant. While he seems to calmly listen to her talk, Alice knows better: Relaxed facial muscles are actually a mask; relaxed posture a wall of fake confidence he constructed to protect his weakened self.

She witnessed him pulling this cursed act off in diverse situations. However, today…"Antonio." The Englishwoman realizes he is doing it to keep HER out and therefore decides to change strategies. She will not allow him to hide his true feelings from her. "And there you go spouting nonsense like saying you trust me."

The Spaniard's mask crumbles in an instant and an expression of panic fills his eyes as he stares at her.

"You two-faced arsehole don't make any sense." She adds; voice cold, thoughts irritated by his actions once more. Because his words and actions don't match.

And she gladly watches him crumble under the weight of her words until all that's left is the real him.

Weak. Hurt. Lonely. Scared. After all those years she finally is able to see what he thinks.

"Liz… I…" the man starts but doesn't continue with words while his desperate voice and shaking hands tell her more than she asked. About the struggles he went through over the last days. About the worries. About his ever present fear his baby might be unwell. About him knowing all too well HE himself is at fault for making Lovina feel the way she does.

And Alice doesn't care for he caused this situation himself. Continued to lie even though he was fully aware of the consequences of his actions. "Liar." She states. "You lied to me just like you lied to Lovina and to everyone else." She continues, fully aware of the conflicted feelings his eyes reflect. "Yet you still dare to appear in front of me. Do you also intend to face your daughter like that?" his head drops down. "Why, excuse me, I forgot..." Alice continues and turns on her heel to head towards the school building. But before she leaves him standing there, the divorced woman looks over her shoulder and coldly adds: "…That she actually isn't your daughter."

Then leaves, slowly taking step after step while she listens to the clacking noise of her shoes against the asphalt. The sound reaches her ears as if it weren't her who is walking away from the slumped silhouette of a man who she always thought was strong as the seas and radiant as the sun.

And is now standing there all alone, left behind with the memories of times he holds dear. And a future unknown.

Like a pirate stranded on an uninhabited island's shore because he failed to fix the cracks in his ship before it was too late.

A sudden touch and a hand pulling her back and whirling her around bring the Englishwoman back from her thoughts, her… disappointment and she turns to stare at him. Stare upwards in there green eyes, again glimmering with determination she doesn't know where it comes from. "Liz." Antonio addresses her as he firmly holds her ankle. "Both of us know I messed up. And as much as I'd like to think things will settle themselves somehow…" He stops to search for the right words; the fire in his eyes is still there. "This time things can't stay the way they are and I will fight…" Once more the brunette stops and his green eyes wander in though before he looks back at her again. "I will fight."

For a moment, Alice just stares at him. Defeated, she takes back her doubts and the regret she felt when she had to watch his self-inflicted downfall.

"Of course." Alice, suddenly realizing how close he stands to her, takes a step backwards. Distances herself from the situation and thinks through their shared past. "You always fought." She remembers all the times he caused his troubles himself. "You fight. You either win or lose. And then you continue life as if nothing ever happened, living in a make-belief world."

xxx

For a moment, Antonio finds himself struggling again. Her words, sharp as a blade make him feel like he loses stance once more and the Spaniard has difficulty to not show her how right she actually is. She easily put his ability to forget all of them, focus the beauty of this world and continue as if nothing were wrong into her own words.

The world he lives in… Is always sunny even if it rains. Is always warm even if he has to fight the cold. It's flooded by sunrays and surrounded by lush greens and reds; an evergreen-garden planted in his heart as a perfect cover of dark and painful feelings. Of hatred, anger and distress. Of pain and love.

Looking at Alice; at Liz, Antonio knows she's long seen through his façade. If she had ever wanted to, she could have stabbed him right where it hurts.

And she's never made use of her knowledge until now.

Piece by piece, the blonde women efficiently breaks down the beautiful coverage of a perfect make-belief world he constructed to keep people away. And to keep Lovina safe.

"You say you trust me." Alice points a finger at his chest. "Then tell me, Wanker. When, after that cursed bet, did you actually confide in me?" she touches another subject he'd rather stayed hidden.

Inside, the single-parent realizes feelings of the past stir and try to take over his consciousness. Memories. Pictures. Touches. Feelings. Of a first kiss with the girl he doesn't even remember when it was he fell in love with her.

But on the outside, he knows exactly how to hide the emotions which still linger every time he looks at her. So Antonio focuses on the here and now as he faces the ex-wife of his best friend; the mother of his daughter's classmate. The best friend to whom he lost touch over the years.

While he calms himself, the same doesn't seem to apply to his counterpart. Lost in her anger, at least this time Alice doesn't seem to realize him shielding his emotions away.

Green eyes gleaming angrily, she continues to attack him: "You «fight». By yourself. You distance yourself after that stupid bet but smile like nothing happened. You drown yourself in work right after graduation and struggle to be able to afford necessities, yet you refuse to accept help from anyone. You collapse after drinking an overdose at your best friend's wedding but say it's not as bad and that we're just overthinking things. You disappear all of a sudden only to return with a child of five years. And NOW I learn the very girl was born in the same hospital where Francis waited for you to come pay his first-born a visit." She lists all his moments of weakness and internal struggle he thought they didn't realize.

But now the Spaniard realizes his friends always knew. Alice always knew. But none of them ever asked, they continued to smile like nothing ever happened and Antonio wonders, if they, like Alice, waited for him to tell them. And, whether maybe, they also waited for him to tell them of his troubles two days ago. Remembers Francis inviting him for a drink.

"And the FIRST time you ever knock on one of your friend's door to ask them to look after Lovina was a few weeks ago." She grabs his collar to pull him down and forces him to look at her again. "Why." Her eyes almost draw him in as she demands answers. "Why did you do all these things?" Alice asks and he knows this is her attempt to understand him. That she wants to know his reasons; his motivation. Wants to understand him because she can't just accept his happy facade but wants to know the real him instead.

Something he won't allow her to do. Because if she KNEW why... He would lose her again.

" _Lo siento_." Antonio refuses to give her the answer she demands and gives his past love a smile.

Her eyes narrow and her gaze turns hard and icy again. She glares at him with a gaze he almost can't hold. Unwavering. Letting him know she will not back down until she gets her answer.

xxx

"I don't get it." _Matteo_ states and Feliciana shrugs her shoulders as the two watch their siblings happily throw insults at each other. "I really don't get it." The blonde boy repeats and Feliciana shrugs again. After another sigh, the blonde boy shakes his head and trots away, most likely to return to the street and check for any bypassing cars.

The Italian watches him make his way through the trees to the barely visible street. So far no car has passed but Feliciana just couldn't get bored of watching Lovina act angry while struggling for answers at things Amelia says as the later teases her to no end; and listening to _Matteo_ complain about the two girls.

Seeing the boy fret over his sister, Feliciana tries to imagine her foster sibling's reaction to Lovina. Hans, he… Feliciana imagines, wouldn't be too happy. He would scowl at her and scare her and Lovina would hide her true thoughts behind her usual grumpy expression, curses and complaints about how she dislikes the blonde boy.

"Felicianaaa!" just in time, the girl turns to catch her sister's comical expression before it morphs to one of anger. "Amelia, she…" Lovina starts ranting and Feliciana pats her shoulder as she listens to the complaints.

Then her thoughts start to drift again, remembering Hans will soon receive her letter. What kind of expression will he make?

xxx

Lost in their own little world of arguments, lies and hidden truth, Alice and Antonio don't realize another student's parents approach and wait at a reasonable distance to listen in and try to figure out what is going on.

"I know they are always fighting, but this is like they reverted to their teenage selves." The man states but is corrected by his wife:

"No, dear. They should have had this fight WHEN they were still teenagers. –At least they're finally talking things out." She smiles and squeezes her husband's hand then pulls him towards the stairs to find a place and sit down and watch the bickering pair with a tendency to talk a lot but never about the issue at hand.

Which, Antonio would correct her, is not quite right. The Englishwoman knows him well enough to easily point them out and call them by their name. And he knows her well enough to understand her questions even if she doesn't ask them.

However, knowing the problem and being able to solve it are two different things. Knowing the questions and wanting to answer them yet another thing.

"Why?!" She repeats the questions he will refuse to answer no matter how often she demands for an answer.

Antonio shakes his head, unwilling to give her what she wants.

He distanced himself after the letter, the bet because he knew she hates him. And because he didn't know how to forget the time he kissed her.

He drowned himself in work in order to save up enough money and invite her to realize their promise to travel around the world.

He couldn't stand by and watch his best friend getting married to his first love.

He couldn't smile at Francis and his new family so he decided to leave on a world tour himself now. Forget everything. Escape.

But if he told her. "Why." Alice repeats a sharp, last time but he simply shakes his head. The answer to all her questions is Alice herself.

And he will never tell her that.

 **xxx**

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Danish:**

 _Nej_ = No

Italian:

 _Vafancullo_ = Shit

 _Bastardo_ = Bastard

 _Buongiorno_ = Good morning/ Good day

Spanish:

 _Lo siento_ = Sorry

 **xxx**

 **Me Ranting about writing and characters and…:**

 **It's so confusing when a person who usually focuses on logically thinking about things gets emotional (aka Alice) and a usually emotional person tries to handle everything by thinking about it (aka Antonio)**

 ***cries***

 **This chapter was a hella lot of work! I absolutely lost touch with the characters and their emotions and then THIS chapter had to be written… Nightmare.**

 **However, I hope I managed to portray everyone in a way you can understand their feelings and motives.**

 **xxx**

 **Surprise!:**

 **(*cough, and to make up for having you wait extremely long for an update)**

 **Because this is Chapter 50, the next chapter will be an extra-chapter about the parent's past.**

 **Enjoy!**


	51. EXTRA- another teenagers

**A/N**

 **This story takes place during the last term of the BTT's and Alice's Senior year. It's a flashback to which I referred to a lot during «Teenagers throwing temper tantrums»**

 **For context reason, I thought it would be nice to tell this story in one extra-chapter ;) rather than scattered all over the story. It's just the raw outlines though; but for all of you guys who are interested, enjoy! ^^**

 **Different to the original story, there are no clear POV's in this narration.**

 **xxx**

It was their last year of high school and Antonio's future promised to be bright and colourful. Filled with experiences, places to visit, people to meet.

And by his side, he realized, he wished for only person to be there. To share all these experiences and travel around the world like they promised each other when they were kids.

Having fallen for Alice, Antonio's eyes kept following her wherever she went. But, together with his two best friends, he couldn't help but tease the girl he realized he loves.

When he finally decided to show what he really thinks of her, the Spaniard wrote a love letter. However, he was bad at writing and so he spent hours in the library, looking up words and re-writing the contents over and over again.

When he finally finished, he put it in a pretty envelope and put it under her table then hid to wait and see her reaction.

Alice received the letter; confused at first but as he continued watching, she seemed extremely touched; until she realized who wrote it.

Her expression turned from touched to stern as she crumpled the paper and tossed it away, cursing it to be another prank.

When she catches the boy staring, Alice gets seriously pissed off, shouting all her dismay and dislike at the brunette boy and accusing him for he and his idiot-friends went too far this time.

Antonio, convinced she hates him now takes it to heart and decides to give up on Alice. However, his feelings remain the same and he still hopes something might change.

xxx

Francis realized Antonio was in love with Alice and the Frenchman wanted to help him out. But it also made him curious what it is that made the Spaniard fall for the blonde girl. He did his best to support his friend. However, not without any ambiguous thoughts.

Because; seeing how a girl seriously caught Antonio's interest made him curious. He wanted to see for himself why Tonio could think ALICE of all people was cute.

He wanted to find out. And took the opportunity he saw: The three friends and Alice went drinking. And Francis knew from experience drinking with the three of them always escalates, so he decided to push his luck a little and, just maybe, arrange for his childhood friends to have a moment together.

But things went different from what he expected as they met Tim and Sadiq who were having a fight. Which was no surprise, seeing the two of them don't get along at all.

But that evening, something was different. Tim seemed to react almost nice when he encountered Tonio. It was as if the Dutch man knew something Francis and Gilbert didn't.

Until today, Francis isn't really sure how everything escalated. Maybe it was because Antonio was in a depressed mood and Gilbert wanted to cheer him up. Maybe it was because Lizzy was there too, sitting close by with Roderich, complaining about how Sadiq was disturbing her date by being loud and annoying. A welcome opportunity for Gilbert to piss Lizzy; only to later on blame it all on the Turk.

So Gilbert decided to join the fight between Tim and Sadiq and somehow turned the whole thing in a drinking contest. However, the Albino didn't stop there but made sure everyone was dragged in as well. Everyone except Lizzy and Roderich who left the pub.

The teams were: Alice, Gilbert and Sadiq vs. Francis, Antonio and Tim.

Francis, seeing his chance, took the whole thing further and turned it into a bet which said whoever won could ask of the looser team whatever they want.

Already slightly drunk, the two men who started the fight continued quarrelling during the whole drinking contest. In the end Tim and Sadiq decided to take their fight out by themselves and didn't stay to see who won. Fists, they concluded, talk more clearly than alcohol.

Team Gilbert and Alice lost.

Due to that Francis; ready to settle some things with the power of love, came up with the idea the girl of the looser team had to kiss each member of the BTT the next day.

Francis meant this as a chance for his friend Antonio to take one step closer to Alice; but he also wanted to figure out if the British girl would be worth his attention.

xxx

That next, cursed day, started as horribly as it continued. Headache making it difficult for her to get up, the thought of how that cursed drinking contest ended made Alice want to stay in bed all day. However, she knew that she should get this over with as quickly and ladylike as possible and so she went to school.

Gilbert appeared first and commanded Alice to follow him to a lone classroom. After stating that he was too awesome to kiss just any random girl, the two made a deal and faked the kiss.

Next up was Antonio. Not wanting to force the girl into it, he decided to let her escape with a mere kiss on her cheek. He came up to her and kissed her, then drew back before she could react. Alice, competitive as she is, made it clear this wouldn't count because the penalty stated SHE had to kiss them. If not, it would also hurt her pride and her determination, to get this over with HER way. Therefore she grabbed his collar to force a kiss on him.

Somehow, the whole thing turned into a competition over dominance. Because Antonio didn't like the fact that the girl took the lead while she didn't want him to take over. The fight-kissing continued until they almost forgot the reason for it and Francis cleared his throat to remind them they weren't alone but sitting on the floor of the hallway while being watched by a bunch of students.

Last to be kissed was Francis. Due to her obvious dislike for him, Alice managed to escape the Frenchman for a long time until school was almost over. He managed to catch her nonetheless and entangled her into a kiss.

She was about to escape again and fell for it when he addressed her with a much unexpected compliment. Trying to sue her with his charm, the girl let her guard down for a second and he saw his opportunity to kiss her. She came back to her senses quickly, refusing to continue the kiss any further and pushed him away, declaring this smooch was far enough.

For her, it was over after that. For the Frenchman however, it was only the beginning. After seeing the scratchy-cat submit to his flowery words once, Francis wanted to see more of Alice's adorable, other side and began courting her.

As for Antonio, he was conflicted. Thinking Alice kissed all three of them; and knowing she hates him even more than ever before, the Spaniard decided to give up on his feelings for her. However, he realized that the decision was easy to make but not easy to pull through. So he kept his distance. The girl avoided him as well, which he saw as another reason to go with his decision.

He stayed away because he knew he couldn't face her without recalling his feelings. And when they graduated, he didn't chase after her, hoping he could forget her.

Hoping that if it was meant to be, they would meet again.

Set on forgetting everything, he spend all his time and energy to earn a lot of money so he could afford his world tour. And maybe, just maybe invite Alice to travel with him; in memory of the good old times of friendly rivalry and their childhood dreams.

At the same time however, Francis unexpectedly met Alice and the two frenemies learned to enjoy each other's company. When he realized she was more important to him than another girl, Francis continued courting Alice until she fell for him and he fell for her. Because what he started just for fun turned into something serious as he developed deep feelings for her.

Alice also realized how she got used to Francis being around. She had to admit she waited for the times spent with him, the fights and all the personal things they talked about. While they talked about their separate future plans, the two young adult's plans began do morph into one.

Knowing his best friend also had feelings for the Englishwoman, Francis tried to figure out if the Spaniard still held onto them, but Antonio would never show it. Being the actor Antonio is when it comes to hide his real thoughts and feelings, Francis was convinced it had just been a crush which was long over. So he took initiative with Alice and asked her to go out with him.

One thing lead to another. They began dating, Francis proposed and they decided to get married.

This was the first time Antonio met her again. The Frenchmen would tell him and Gilbert about his crush, but they didn't know who it was until the two were already engaged. Seeing her and Francis this happy, Antonio decided to give up on her once more.

The Spaniard tried to forget his feelings and managed to do so for the sake of Francis.

However, he could no longer deny his long held feelings when Francis told them Alice, his wife was pregnant. Antonio couldn't see his beloved and his best friend together with child, so he decided to leave the place and travel around the world by himself.

To forget her and to escape the pain of an unrequired love.

The night he left, he met a certain woman who was about to give birth. It was the night his broken heart found a new love. A love he never expected he could feel for another person.

The love of a father for his daughter, Lovina.


	52. Let's chase them down

Determined, Alice stares at the man in front of her and sees her own reflection in his green eyes. She realizes the different shades of green she never realized as well as the unpleasantly familiar stubbornness. If she could call it that.

Alice knows she herself is a stubborn person, but Antonio… He's on a whole different level. Describing the Wanker would request to create a new word for his stupid determination to take his secrets to the grave. But Alice decides to dare him anyways. "You will eventually tell me. And if it's the last thing you do." The Englishwoman declares, then turns away from his straight gaze to pass him and continue to the grey school building.

The building looks as old as ever and Alice is surprised to find a pair of familiar faces wait in front of the main entrance's stairs as if they had been waiting for them all this time. An unpleasant feeling overcomes her.

"Roderich?" Alice startles when Antonio appears next to her and only then realizes she stopped walking the moment she spotted the couple. Seeing them here and with such concern on their faces, Alice hopes the Git standing next to her will remain an oblivious idiot and not realize the situation. "How come you are here? Did something happen with Feli?" He starts the small talk but a barely noticeable change in his voice indicates his worries hidden between the lines.

When she turns her head to glance at him, Alice can only spot his usual expression and grumbles in suppressed anger at this stupid mask. He may be dying inside but would stubbornly refuse to let it show on his face. "If you're worried" And, as much as she hates it, she knows she struggles with similar habits. She just wishes, he wouldn't. "Why don't you just show it, you wanker." Alice growls.

She could understand him, if he struggled with showing emotions like joy or… sappy things like love. Instead, he hides his pain and worry. The Englishwoman is certain, it should be so much easier to show negative feelings. At least to her, it is. Anger or distrust… It's all visible on her face.

But, as always the Spaniard just keeps up that stupid «everything is all right»-smile on his lips. " _Querida_ " Antonio then whispers, smile still frozen in place but eyes void of laughter. –She continues to look at him while he whispers without turning to face her, eyes still focused on Elizaveta and Roderich, happy smile frozen in place. „Please tell me my _bambina_ is all right."

"Antonio" Alice starts, and he finally turns to look at her, waiting for her answer. Worry dances in his green eyes and his fake smile disappears when Alice shakes her head and explains: "I am afraid, I don't know because she stayed at her sister's place."

Which brings them back to the couple standing in front of them, side by side and fingers intertwined. Elizaveta speaks up first, as she quickly realizes the change of atmosphere. "Alice, dear. What leads you here?" The brown-haired woman approaches them with gentle movements so very unlike how the Englishwoman remembers the Hungarian. And if it weren't for the worried father standing next to her, Alice would have probably turned on her heel to bring some comfortable distance between herself and the other woman. "How is Lovina doing? Has she recovered yet?" The gentle smile reaches Elizaveta's eyes and makes her look like the friendly woman from next door.

The Englishwoman coughs uncomfortably. "I thought the girls were at your place." She manages to say as a horrible realization and sudden worry wash over the blonde woman.

The long-haired brunette frowns and Roderich quickly catches up to his wife, face concerned. "Unfortunately, they were not. We were thinking they went to your place instead. Or that Lovina even made up with Antonio; and Feliciana tagged along."

The Englishwoman blinks in surprise, taken aback by the new information and confusion. She sees Antonio's expression turn to one of horror and fear. Despite all the things she shouted at him only moments ago, Alice worries how he will take it. As the meaning of these words sink through, he starts to nervously pace back and forth.

"And we are finally getting to the reason I called you here." Another voice speaks up, making the parents realize why they were here in the first place. Even Alice completely forgot Martina called her to the school because of some stunt Amelia pulled. "To inform you your kids didn't come to school two days in a row and ask if you know of their whereabouts." All eyes turn at the headmaster and even the pacing brunette stops and stares. "Three Junior girls, namely Amelia Johanna Bonnefoy, Feliciana Veneciana Edelstein and Lovina Romana Carriedo." Antonio's expression turns to one of horror again and Alice can grab his arm just in time to stop him from running off to his car. He struggles under the woman's grip but after a hissed order, he stays still. "And there's also a freshman boy missing. Though the teachers couldn't tell me, what his name was." Martina shares a look with Alice and both know the description could only apply to Matthew.

"Dear God. Please tell me that was just another cursed Idea of my stupid daughter." The blonde tries but what the headmaster has to tell them next is far more worrisome:

"There has, for a fact, been reports about suspicious people around our school lately and even the police warned us to be wary. As all of your kids have a tendency to… avoid overworking themselves by going to school, the teachers didn't react. But four teenagers gone for two days is odd."

xxx

Overtaken by worry piled up over years and years, Antonio managed to escape Alice's iron grip and rush towards the gate. Caught up in worry, he doesn't even hear the heels clacking behind him as Alice follows as fast as she can until she catches up to him. The woman grabs his arm again and yanks the Spaniard around.

Antonio finds himself whirling around and lose footing as he collides with the floor. Pain shoots through his body but he ignores it, mind solely focused on protecting his child. "HEY! Some help over here?" He tears his arm free from the grip and struggles back on his feet to continue and hurry to his car. Car. Keys. Where did he put them again? Antonio starts searching for the keys as his feet carry him towards the parking space and this time he realizes the hand stretching out for him. "No, you don't!" He hears the shout and recognizes the scream to be Alice. Antonio notices how one of the people chasing him stops but continues without paying it any mind. "Tio, you dropped your keys." It's Alice, again. Calling after him and the Spaniard stops to check his pockets. He nearly trips over from suddenly skidding to a halt.

Somewhere between checking his pockets and turning around to face her, another person's arms lock around his and pull them behind his back, holding him in an arm lock. Brown locks. Elizaveta. The Spaniard turns his attention to the blonde now slowly walking towards him holding what looks like a silver bundle of keys. Only keys. Without a single keychain, so very unlike his own. "Liz." He growls and struggles to free himself from Elizaveta's grip.

The Englishwoman smiles sweetly as she walks towards him and takes her time to check his pockets until she discovers HIS keys. "You're not going anywhere." Her eyes turn cold again. "You'll either crash your car, yourself or somebody else if you leave in your current state. So be a good boy and stay put. We'll go search the kids; you stay put." Alice swings the keys in front of his eyes before she opens her handbag to pocket them, as a triumphant smile steals itself on her face. The satisfaction of him falling into her little trap outweighing her worry because of the kids for a moment.

Antonio uses this distraction to launch forward and throw himself at the Englishwoman to bring her down. Alice screams in surprise as she falls backwards, loses her grip on the keys and they fall to the ground. Quickly, the Spaniard steps on them to keep them out of her reach. Alice curses. Colourfully.

Sitting there with her hair pulled back in a bun most likely messier than intended and her trousers ripped, her façade of a professional office lady crumbles and shows her easily triggered anger. "Tie." declares the Spaniard and he can tell from the look of her eyes, this doesn't sit well with the competitive Englishwoman. " _Querida_ , no. Liz. You should know me good enough to know I will take every chance I get to leave here. Even if you take my keys, I will highjack the next vehicle I find to search Lovi myself."

Slowly, Alice rises again, cleans the dirt off her black outfit and frowns as she spots a little hole in her blazer. Her elbow is bleeding and the Englishwoman complains about her destroyed clothes. Then she turns her gaze at him and Elizaveta secures her grip on him again, trying to make him take a step backwards and remove his foot from the keys but Antonio refuses.

"Surely," Alice starts "I am aware of your cursed stubbornness." She starts circling him like she did in the old times when they were kids, playing and fighting to figure out who would be able to conquer the other. "The moment I get in that car and start driving, you will highjack the first vehicle even if it's an ambulance and not stop until «your» baby-girl is back home and safe in your arms." She stares at him and he answers her gaze without blinking even when she raises her hand to slap his cheek. "Hypocrite."

Having watched the whole scene, Elizaveta decides to finally speak up and state her opinion as well: "Alice, should we take him with us? Our car's…"

"No need." The Englishwoman interrupts her. "The Wanker is coming with me."

xxx

It might have taken AGES to convince the others (one grumpy person in particular) to share a room, and she might or might not have aged to the extreme of having discovered a hint of grey in her hair, but Amelia survived the struggle. Her effort have been rewarded; meaning all three of them can FINALLY have a real girls-only sleepover. Mattie, she decided, was old enough to look after himself and sleep in another room.

So yeah, that's pretty awesome!

The downside of things is, the friendly weirdo couple who drove them back to civilization just had to go the wrong way and they ended up back at the beginning. Almost. For a moment, Amelia stares at the key of the fucking same hostel they stayed over last time.

The door opens and the blonde remembers just how rundown this place was. "Aww, sucks. It's even dustier than the last room." Amelia complains and is shoved to the side by none other than Lovi.

The brunette strides inside and grins at her: "What did you expect, Princess? A castle?" the girl turns for a mock-curtesy then starts checking the beds and falls backwards on the one most to her liking. Feliciana, happily vee-ing of course, follows suit and chooses her bed. "Can deal with bugs but not with dust?" Lovi snickers and throws a dusty pillow at the girl.

Amelia ducks just in time "UFO!" she screams and laughs the moment she realizes the flying object hit her brother in her stead. Then Amelia gracefully turns to take her bag from his shoulder, give him a kiss to thank him for carrying her stuff and strides inside. "Well, at least SOME people know how to survive in the wilderness." She answers the mock-curtesy from before with a half-hearted bow. "Your knight is always at your service to save you from eight-legged monsters and starvation, Milady."

Then she slouches down on the last, free bed and rolls on her belly to start splaying with her phone. Suppressing giggles at the Italian's dumfounded face, Amelia waits for the second pillow to come flying her way.

"Oh! Hans texted me!" Feli exclaims and Amelia perks up to see Lovi sitting next to the other brunette, holding Feli's pillow up, ready to throw it but frozen in place; disturbed by the new information. "Oh. He read the letter." The auburn haired girl continues happily, then her expression turns somewhat sad. "Oh. And he isn't happy about it. I thought he would like the card I sent him because it was really pretty, and…" The pillow meets a random wall and Lovi snatches the gadget from Feli's hands instead. She scowls and Feli complains: "Nooo! You can't just delete iiiit!"

Amused, Amelia watches the two girls fight over the phone; both complaining and arguing about one thing and another. Nothing else to do, Amelia tries to follow the conversation about this Hans guy who, she figured out by now, must be close to Feli. Which Lovi doesn't like. For one, Lovi isn't happy with him deciding to stay in some boarding school but doesn't like it when he comes home and «sticks around Feli too much» either. Girl's got problems. And doesn't make any sense, but Amelia already knew that. Feli on the other hand is undecided whether she should adore the boy or be …could you call it frightened? Then again, the guy's supposed to be her brother?

The whole thing doesn't really make any sense to her.

Eventually, Lovina's curses change from English to whatever and the two girls continue chattering in … Italian. Probably. Because Amelia overheard them talk about their Italian teacher... Vargas? But it could also be Spanish; because Tonio.

Her musing over incomprehensible languages is interrupted by a quiet knock, which quickly grows louder.

xxx

"ONE more word and you'll fly right through that door." Alice grips the steering wheel with as much force as possible in an attempt to get rid of some of her piled-up anger at a certain WANKER. Since they departed, the Spaniard has been a nervous wreck, mumbling about his worries, worrying over the worst case scenarios and rambling on and on about how scarred his baby must be.

The «baby» who is already sixteen years old. And not «his» either.

"We searched the whole city but couldn't find a trace of them. Stop worrying some weird Mafia-Gang might have kidnapped them. I highly doubt the group of teenager that shop assistant described to us could have been anyone else but the kids. AND remember the old lady complaining about today's youngsters driving around like crazy? The kids are safe. Lovina is safe. The only danger for them, right now is detention, Elizaveta and me."

"Liz~" The Spaniard whines again, asking the Englishwoman for the last bit of patience she can gather. But this time, he stops after saying her name once and then settles on staring outside.

At first, Alice enjoys the quiet atmosphere to recharge and focus on the street instead of her passenger. Then, she can no longer ignore the uncomfortable atmosphere. "Speak." Sick of him talking a lot without actually saying anything of importance, the Englishwoman demands him to tell her the root of his worries. And, just probably, she is worried after seeing him react to the news.

And though he denied her answers before, he at least finally fills her in on some new details she didn't know: About the suspected origin of the twin's mother. About the people searching for her and what Antonio heard some of them talk about. And, most importantly, what he feels about all that. "They were looking for the twin's mother. Everywhere. And up to today I'm not sure, whether they meant good or bad."

"And unless they prove otherwise, you will not trust them." The Englishwoman concludes. "All right." And she asks him to take out the map. "Let's chase them down. Kids first, gangster guys later."

A chuckle answers her and finally Carriedo sounds like he's somewhat relaxed. " _Gracias, Querida_." He fishes for the map and searches for it in the weirdest places instead of just opening the glove department. "Right. Should have known that." He comments the neatly organized stack of maps and useful things while Alice wonders who would search for a map under the chair.

Then he does what Amelia usually would: he turns on the radio and the usual battle starts as both, the Englishwoman and the Spaniard can't agree with the other's choice of music. It takes them a few curse words, arguing and complaints until they settle for a compromise to switch channels after every three songs.

"Any ideas where Lovina would run off to?" Alice tries and hopes the grumpy teen could even get her crazy daughter to listen to her… convincing manner of speaking.

Antonio, apparently understanding what the divorced woman means without her putting it into words chuckles and apologetically shrugs his shoulders. "South. Just drive South." After hearing his so VERY detailed and helpful description, Alice rolls her eyes and looks at the sky and the sun's position to figure out if she's already driving southwards. Next to her, Antonio settles on studying the map and mumble to himself.

In some weird way, it makes Alice smile because she remembers he did the same when he was a kid and she can easily remember his younger self; ruffled hair, runny nose and turtle Band-Aid on his left knee; marching back and forth while trying to come up with a strategy that somehow always turned out to be really random.

Remembering this, a small laugh escapes the blonde which startles the brown haired man to look up and stare at her. Alice turns to look outside again, hoping he didn't realize her staring and makes sure to follow the described route.

Even back in their childhood days, one would usually lead while the other was absorbed in random thoughts, talking or fighting. Then, the other suddenly had an idea; saw something; remembered something… And wanted to take over. Which again ended in them fighting until they agreed who would temporarily take the lead.

This time, Alice forced the responsibility on herself when she took his keys. Though she greatly underestimated the man, thinking he wouldn't challenge her. Middle-aged Antonio; nowadays content with spending his days dressed more practically than anything while fussing over Lovina and his tomato plants. He, Alice realized once more, didn't change even after all those years. Fighting spirit as alive as ever, he easily spotted an opening and caught herself and Elizaveta off guard.

But in the end, they are sitting in Alice's car. With her driving. And she still has his keys. Content with this situation, Alice decides to focus on the route, leaving the Spaniard next to her mumble to himself about whatever he is mumbling about.

She takes her time to look at the houses and the way people decorated their entrances with flowers, shaped stones or just simple wooden objects without any specific shape. Her favourites are the small figurines people placed in their windows and the tiny dwarves some people placed next to a small bush or a pile of stones. Because these creatures are a rather rare sight, the Englishwoman starts counting them and immediately has to think of Amelia when she counts seven of them; the last one she spots looking like «Dopey» from Disney's «Snow White».

Eventually, the houses become less and less and trees start to stand next to the street in their stead as they enter a forest. Throwing a sideways glance at Antonio, Alice wonders why he would keep quiet throughout the whole drive. She knows this to be very out of character for him, but enjoys it none the less. Because him keeping quiet means she doesn't have to deal with his positives vibes, his changing emotions or his train of thoughts that usually works very different from her own.

"Liz" Carriedo interrupts the quiet atmosphere and the Englishwoman wonders if he realized her glancing at him. Again. "You're not angry at me anymore?"

Surprised, the blonde frowns and is no longer surprised he didn't say a word until now. "I am." She states and his shoulders drop, making him look like a child that got told off. It surprises her he only acts like this now and didn't when she cursed and slapped him. Which again tells her he knows why she did all that. So she continues to explain: "But I think you got the message; you yourself know best how you messed up. Hence it would be childish of me to act on my anger any longer." He slowly nods and turns to look at her, still not talking. "But that doesn't mean I'll let you off." She reminds him and the man groans unhappily, but seems to accept her words as no whining, complains or apologies follow.

"All right then." The map rustles as Antonio spreads it over the dashboard and half the steering wheel, earning an angry glance of Alice but shrugs it off with one of his apologetic smiles. "Don't tell me you can't even drive on a straight road, Miss…-es Control-freak. We should check this place out." He points at the name of some landmark and Alice frowns, uncertain what to do with the information.

"I can't quite imagine Lovina to go someplace like this." She states as she searches the names around the area Antonio pointed out to her.

"I can. Very much." The Spaniard smugly replies "Amelia is with her. This place is easy to find if you follow this road and head south. It's on a hill and easily visible to spot from the street. Calculating they spent the night at a bed and breakfast, the kids would continue on this road and be hungry by the time the landmark comes into sight." Alice, defeated, nods. Given this situation, Amelia would give everything she got to talk the others into following her. "And if they didn't go there, I found about another six places they might have stopped by."

"Fine. You win." She shoves the map to the side with one hand and makes the mistake of looking at Antonio who beams at her with a mischievous grin. Green eyes sparkling confidently, he raises an eyebrow and folds the map to put it down on another place than where he took it from, answering Alice's question as to why he had to look everywhere before finding the map. Can't find it where you left it if you don't pay any attention to where you put things in the first place. "Gloves Department" Alice reminds him and he frowns, not quite knowing what she wants to indicate. "Would you kindly put it back to where you found it? Preventive measure to not loose things." Alice explains as his quizzical expression turns into an amused one.

Antonio laughs, warm voice filling the vehicle and getting on the driver's nerves. "Liz, that's YOUR habit. I don't misplace things. I always know where I can find them."

"You don't know the word «structure»" Alice fires back.

" _Querida_ ~ Structure is exactly why you lose things all the time." He hums and takes the map to wave it in front of Alice's face. The woman slaps it away and the man chuckles, then turns more serious again. "You stick to the rules you made up for yourself and forget you're not a machine but a human being. They make mistakes, they forget. And they misplace things." Trying not to listen and trying even more not to look like she does, Alice glares at the street ahead but hears him nonetheless: "Liz, reality doesn't do structure."

Remembering it's time to switch back to HER music, the Englishwoman gladly uses the opportunity and hopes to shock him enough to shut him up. Though she forgot he knows most songs anyways and starts to sing along instead.

Which means Alice managed to make him stop talking, but couldn't get him to shut up. As a grin appears on his face indicates, the Spaniard knows what she tried to do and decided to play along. She loathes this multiple-faced guy's illogical mood swings. Nagging her and acting all smug, then suddenly decide to act along and stop nagging.

However, one thing seems to remain unchanging: seeing how much he loves music, it doesn't take long for the grin to melt into a genuine relaxed smile as he sings. His voice gentler than the lead singer's, which complements the song in a strange but beautiful way. When the musician sings lower notes, he sings in harmony; when the radio plays a verse, he repeats the chorus. Antonio takes a short break at the bridge's intro and nudges Alice in an invitation to sing along too but the Englishwoman shakes her head. And once more she is reminded of his intransigence as he continues to poke her shoulder in a highly annoying way to make sure the woman joins in once the bridge starts. Which she does. Unwillingly. For the sake of inner peace and her shoulder.

And she wonders how she could have forgotten the joy of singing. Of letting her voice resound in her ears as it mixes with the music; the feeling of telling stories and creating emotions with mere sounds.

"Liz." Antonio speaks up after the song ends and they enjoy the atmosphere still lingering in the car. "Why did you chuckle when I was reading the map?"

Alice takes her time to prepare her answer but he waits, giving her the time she needs to do so. "I remembered the past. Our past. And I'm glad some things haven't changed." She laughs, still on an emotional high so very unfamiliar to her.

His fading smile makes her frown and Alice wonders why her words would make him turn from her but doesn't get the time to wonder as their attention is caught by something else.

"Tim's car." Antonio mutters.

 **A/N**

 **Translations:**

 **Spanish:**

 _Querida_ = Beloved

 _Bambina_ = Child (Female)

 _Gracias_ = Thank you

 **xxx**

 **Names:**

 **Yeah, due to story and so on, the names of the teenagers differ from the character's original names. Most of these changes have a reason.**

 **For example: Remember Amelia using «Amelia E. Jones» as her "Agent-Name"? Simply because she likes that one better. So she changed her given name.**

 **I changed her cannon given name to «Johanna» because it's somewhat similar to «Jones», «Jeanne (D'arc)» and… You'll learn the last reason later. :)**


End file.
